In this future-set novella by bestselling author Scott Westerfeld, Kieran Black lives in a “perfect” world. Disease and starvation have been eradicated, sleep is unnecessary, and it takes no time at all to go from the Bahamas to the moon. But now Kieran has to take Scarcity, a class about how people lived in the bad old days. And as if sitting through an hour of Scarcity every day wasn’t depressing enough, it’s final projects time. Each student must choose some form of ancient hardship to experience for two whole weeks. Kieran chooses having to sleep eight hours a night, which doesn’t seem too annoying.

Maria Borsotti has never thought much of Kieran, but she decides to take pity on him and help him out with his project. Soon, Kieran is sleeping and having vivid dreams, while Maria, whose Scarcity project is to give up all teenage hormone regulation, is experiencing emotions she never knew she had. As their assignments draw them closer together, they begin to wonder if the olden days weren’t so bad. Maybe something has been missing from their perfect lives after all?

Epic Reads Impulse is a digital imprint with new releases each month.

• Utopian World: Explore a future where all hardship has been eliminated—and discover what humanity lost in the process.
• Opposites Attract: He’s an outdoorsy adventurer, she’s an intense intellectual. When their strange class projects force them together, they find an unexpected connection.
• Futuristic Romance: As Kieran experiences sleeping for the first time and Maria navigates a storm of new emotions, their shared vulnerability sparks a romance that challenges everything they know.
• Exploring Dreams: For the first time in his life, Kieran is dreaming. But as the line between his dream world and reality begins to blur, he has to decide what is truly real.