Author's Note

In celebration of Amazon Prime Video's newest series Panic, I am thrilled to be teaming up with Amazon Prime Video and Wattpad to write this exclusive chapter that puts my characters from this story into the world of Panic!

I hope this chapter intrigues and inspires you to learn more about Panic. Visit the #PanicWritingContest on Wattpad for the chance to put your creative writing chops to the test and learn more about the show!

To find out more about the contest, prizes, and how to enter, check out the #PanicWritingContest here: wattpad.com/AmazonPrimeVideo

Don't forget to watch the series premiere on May 28th, only on Amazon Prime Video, here: http://primevideo.com/

I am standing at the edge of a cliff. I have no idea how I ended up here, but someone yells at me that there's a 50,000 dollar prize at the end of it. It is so dark out. I can barely see the waters below. A couple of rocks tumble off the edge by my converse sneaker. I don't even hear a sound when they hit the waters below. I struggle to recall how I got here. This doesn't look like New York City to me. Was this a senior class trip gone wrong? 

There are other teenagers here. They're all jumping off the edge one by one. I try to figure out if they're people I've met before but it's too dark. The moonlight barely illuminates anything over three feet from me so I can't see their faces clearly. I can't believe they're just running off the edge of the cliff. Some of them scream as they fall. I feel the fear welling up in my chest. I know it's probably safe if everyone else is doing it, but at the same time, I don't want to find out. What if I'm the one person who smashes her brains out on the rocks down there? 

"Are you going to go first, Queens, or should I?" Jake asks and kicks his sneakers off. 

Jake? Jake Villin?

How the heck did Jake get here?

I thought he left our school. 

I'm overjoyed to see Jake. It's like I found a piece of myself again, a bit of my Junior Year self, a bit of my internet self, a bit of my truest self. But wait, how can Jake be here? I'm struggling to remember how we ended up on this class trip together. I've been hanging out with Ruth this entire Senior year. We've grown very close, probably a bit too close for Jake's comfort if he found out. 

"Are you really going to j-jump?" 

"If there's a bad, reckless decision to be made, you know I can be trusted to make it," Jake retorts. 

Off come the pants next. Oh no. Is he about to get naked in front of me? Jake peels the too thin-too-tight shirt off next.  His glorious ab muscles break free of the oppressive restraint of his completely unnecessary GAP t-shirt. I don't know why guys like Jake bother to wear shirts considering every detail of their impressive physique bulges out from underneath. 

Even when the shirt is on, he's always folding his arms across his chest and smirking like he knows exactly what scandalous thoughts you are thinking. He's a sexy beast and he knows it. It makes me want to smack him across his face to show him exactly what I think about his taunting smirk. I'll do that and then kiss him, then I'll punch him in his gut. He probably won't even feel it through all those man-of-steel muscles but it's the thought that counts. 

I can't believe I'm standing here in the cold darkness thinking all these dumb thoughts about him and I don't even like him that much! 

 I am relieved when he stops stripping before the boxers come off too.

Maybe it's because we're about to die. That's why suddenly Jake looks a thousand times hotter to me than he did sitting behind me in Creative Writing class. They say that stress can heighten arousal, I just didn't think we would be falling in love again while standing at the edge of an actual cliff! 

"Can you stop staring at my body, Queens? The cliff is in that direction."

"I'm not staring!" I snap and immediately look away. "Stop flattering yourself. It's not like there's anything there that I haven't seen before."

"That's not true. I got a new tattoo on my lower back. It's a scorpion, want to see it?" 

Before Jake can turn around and lower his boxers, I start screaming in protest. 

"No! No, I don't! Stop!"

"Fine, your loss."

"Why are you even doing this? Aren't you rich?" I demand as two other kids jump off the ledge. One of them nearly shoves me off of it. I narrowly regain my balance, and I almost have a heart attack for the two seconds as I wobble off the tip of the rocky cliff.

"Hey, you know what they say about high school students — if someone's jumping off a cliff soon, we'll all be doing it."

"Only if someone is filming it for TikTok," I retort. "It's too dark to see anything right now, so this is a complete waste of my influencer gifts."

"Hey! New York City, are you two going to jump?" An angry voice comes from far below us. I guess that even if we can't see them — by them, I mean the buff, angry, villainous boys who are running this challenge — they can see us.

"Okay, okay!" I scream back. "You better be ready to pay up."

I turn back to Jake, who is now taking a few steps back so that he could dive in with a running start. He's banging on his tanned, muscular chest Tarzan-style, and I would have found it funny if I weren't about to die.

"W-wait!" I scream as Jake gets into position to run. "Wait, don't make me do it alone."

Jake sighs and comes over to me. He's hanging his head like he doesn't know why he invited me along. I can just see him thinking in the back of his mind —girls ruin everything!

"Okay, Queens. Take my hand."

I give him my trembling hand, and I pray he doesn't notice. His hands are rough and calloused. They're warm as heck, probably because mine are so cold. I'm weak in the knees now. This is it—the moment of truth.

"Ready?" Jake asks as I hold onto much more than just his hand. I have my arms around his elbow now. As we step toward the edge, I wrap my arms around his shoulder.

"Hey Queens," Jake says as the wind blows my hair around my face, effectively blinding me. "Don't you remember what I told you?"

"Yeah?"

"I'll always be with you."

Before I'm able to process what he's telling me, we step over the side of the cliff. The wind picks up around us, and for a second, I am weightless. We are in free fall. It's like that second you go over the top of a rollercoaster, and you desperately try to hang onto something, anything.

I dig my nails into Jake's neck as we fall. My nose practically breaks as I smush my face into his chest. The fall, which looked like it would take forever, actually only last for five seconds. We splash into the nighttime waters below. It's freezing in there, but I'm alive. I swim to the surface and take a few gulps of the cold air.

"We did it, Jake!" I cheer between breaths as I tread the shallow waters. "We're alive! And we're going to be rich!"

"Yeah, was there ever any doubt, Queens?" he asks me. Even though I can't see him in the darkness, I know he's there, somewhere close by.

As I swim toward the shore, the water fades into the waves of my fleece blanket. I wake up in my bed, in my apartment in the city. The glow of the moon turns into my laptop screen.

"Wow, I just had the craziest dream," I mumble. I glance at my computer screen where my browser was still pointed at the acceptance letter from CarpTown Publishing. Yeah, I finally found someone to publish my short story about werewolves. It's just an online blog, but I'm going to be a writer!

All you have to do is leap. Yeah, Jake. I leaped. I only wish you were here to see it.