What If It's Us (What If It's Us #1)

by Becky Albertalli

“Guess that’s the universe saying I should hold on to it.” The universe. Holy shit. He’s a believer. He believes in the universe. And I don’t want to jump to conclusions or anything, but Box Boy believing in the universe is definitely a sign from the universe. “Okay.” My heartbeat quickens. “But what if the universe is actually telling you to throw his stuff away?” “That’s not how it works.” “Oh really?” “Think about it. Getting rid of the box is plan A, right? The universe isn’t going to thwart plan A just so I’ll go with another version of plan A. This is clearly the universe calling for plan B.” “And plan B is . . .” “Accepting that the universe is an asshole—” “The universe isn’t an asshole!” “It is. Trust me.” “How could you possibly know that?” “I know the universe has some fucked-up plan for this box.” “But that’s the thing!” I stare him down. “You don’t actually know. You have no idea where the universe is going with this. Maybe the whole reason you’re here is because the universe wanted you to meet me, so I could tell you to throw the box away.” He smiles. “You think the universe wanted us to meet?” “What? No! I mean, I don’t know. That’s the point. We have no way of knowing.” “Well, I guess we’ll see how it plays out.”