Thrill of the Fall

I was about half in love with her by the time we sat down. That's the thing about girls: every time they do something pretty, you fall half in love with them, and then you never know where the hell you are.
J.D. Salinger · The Catcher in the Rye

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To anyone on the outside of Astin Caignon’s life, it would seem like she had it all: looks, popularity, smarts, money. And she did have everything. The only difference is she didn’t want it. She would’ve given up all of those things just to be normal. Standing out wasn’t as glamorous as people thought it was; neither was having your every move scrutinized and examined under the microscope of one-thousand teenagers. She wanted to trust someone enough to let them love her.

But not himself, he had tried to do that for six or seven long years and his senior year was the year to change that. He was going to let her know who he was. But he wouldn’t do it right away. He couldn’t go from being nothing for over ten years to being something in a week. He would do it the only way he knew best: secrets.