I wasn't very happy in high school: it was a confusing and sort of sad time for me.

I had this wild thought that he was the only one in all this chaos who was just like me, and that was comforting and profound all at once.

What happened to goodbye?

The basic fact is that no, this isn't ideal. Very few things are. Sometimes, you have to manufacture your own history. Give fate a push,so to speak.

Like so many before them, they didn't care that my dad was only the messenger. They still wanted to shoot him.

Then what are you like, Annabel?" he shot back. "A liar, like you told me that first day? Come on. That was the biggest lie of all.

Sometimes, you get things right the first time. Others, the second. But the third time, they say, is the charm.