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by Kiersten White

“Cool story, man,” Ava says. “Tell me about how you walked uphill to school both ways, twenty miles in the snow, and how going to school didn’t put you in six-figure debt, and how your first house cost less than a car, and then I’ll tell you a story about how your generation fucked mine over.”

“He doesn’t love you,” she said matter-of-factly. “He didn’t love your mother, either, and I don’t want you to spend your whole life waiting for something he can’t give. Men like that, people are things to them. That’s why he can pick you up and drop you as easily. But you’re not a thing, Brandon. You’re wonderful, and if he can’t see that, he’s broken. Not you. Don’t ever forget it.”