Fangirl

by Rainbow Rowell

“Why do we write fiction?” Professor Piper asked. Cath looked down at her notebook. To disappear.

“That moment,” she told Cath, “when you realize that a guy’s looking at you differently—that you’re taking up more space in his field of vision. That moment when you know he can’t see past you anymore.”

“I’ll try not to lose our novel.” “Our first novel,” he said, taking the path that led off campus. “Good night.”

“The whole point of fanfiction,” she said, “is that you get to play inside somebody else’s universe. Rewrite the rules. Or bend them. The story doesn’t have to end when Gemma Leslie gets tired of it. You can stay in this world, this world you love, as long as you want, as long as you keep thinking of new stories—”

They were all three such a disaster. It had taken years to put themselves back together, and so what if some things didn’t get put back in the right place? At least they could hold themselves up.

“It’s okay if you’re crazy,” he said softly. “You don’t even know—” “I don’t have to know,” he said. “I’m rooting for you.”

But she’s more … forceful than you.” “Confident.” “Partly. Maybe. More like—she takes what she wants from a situation.” “There’s nothing wrong with that.” “No, I know,” Levi said. “But it’s not you. You don’t push through every moment. You pay attention. You take everything in. I like that about you—I like that better.”