2008م - 1444هـ
Paper Towns



The longest day of my life began tardily. I woke up late, took too long in the shower, and ended up

having to enjoy my breakfast in the passenger seat of my mom’s minivan at 7:17 that Wednesday

morning.

I usually got a ride to school with my best friend, Ben Starling, but Ben had gone to school on

time, making him useless to me. “On time” for us was thirty minutes before school actually started,

because the half hour before the first bell was the highlight of our social calendars: standing outside

the side door that led into the band room and just talking. Most of my friends were in band, and most

of my free time during school was spent within twenty feet of the band room. But I was not in the

band, because I suffer from the kind of tone deafness that is generally associated with actual deafness.

I was going to be twenty minutes late, which technically meant that I’d still be ten minutes early for

school itself.

As she drove, Mom was asking me about classes and finals and prom.

“I don’t believe in prom,” I reminded her as she rounded a corner. I expertly angled my raisin bran

to accommodate the g-forces. I’d done this before.

“Well, there’s no harm in just going with a friend. I’m sure you could ask Cassie Hiney.” And I

could have asked Cassie Hiney, who was actually perfectly nice and pleasant and cute, despite having

a fantastically unfortunate last name.