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“I hope she’ll be a fool—that’s the best thing a girl can be in this world, a beautiful little fool”

?F Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby

In this book, she isn’t

“A Little Party Never Killed Nobody”—Fergie

“The Quiet Things That No One Ever Knows”—Brand New

“Kill and Run”—Sia

“Truly, Madly, Deeply”—Savage Garden

“One Armed Scissor”—At The Drive-in

“When You Were Young”—The Killers

“Lullaby”—The Cure

Once upon a ti wilted but the soul of one boy

He was six when she met him

The girl had arrived with her mother to prepare a festiveover the marble floors of histo appreciate the grand arches and courtyards of roses She slid back and forth, occupying herself until her mother was done, while thunder cracked outside

It was the kind of winter Bostonians talked about for years afterward, unyielding and persistent The dark sky shot needles of hail down on the castle, the ice banging over the curved s angrily The girl slid toward one of the Gothic s, pressing her hand against the cold glass

She was surprised to see a s on a sunbed by the pool, out in the rain A boy He lay very still, letting the downpour hit hi the punishing lashes of hail on his skin

Panicked, the girl began to pound theWhat if he was injured? Unconscious? Dead? Did she even knohat death ht she wasn’t listening

She banged the glass harder His head turned slowly her way—lazily, almost like she was of no importance

His gray-blues reens

“Coht to find a door handle

He shook his head

“Please!” she cried

“They’re sendinglips, but couldn’t hear hi”

“Where? Where are you going?” she called