Listen, I hope things get better with your family, Amir. If you ever want to talk about it, you call me. Seriously. I mean that now. I know family is important, and it’s a process and all that, so I want you to know, I’m here for you, buddy.

Hey, remember those calculations you were going on about, that morning when I was being an ass? The “scoreboard” you were talking about? Look, you know I’m no math expert. But I can tell you this much: life is not a scoreboard, Amir. It is a big, beautiful, messy equation. One of those extra-complicated ones even a Nobel Prize–winning mathematician couldn’t crack, let alone your poet friend who nearly flunked algebra.

One more thing, Amir. When you get back to Rome, I need you to do something. I left my bike parked on the street—by the shop outside my apartment, the one with all the trinkets in the window. That old thing got me everywhere. I bought it on my first day in Rome, and it’s saved me more times than you can imagine. Just find a big pair of scissors, or a chainsaw or something, and cut the chain. It’s yours.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

This book was partly inspired by the time I spent in Rome in the summer of 2018. Much like Amir, I had no idea when I landed that I would meet people who would change my life and become a special kind of family to me, if only for a short summer. Thank you to those people. You know who you are.

Thank you to my agent, Brooks Sherman, for caring about this book like it was your own baby. I know you have an actual baby now and he’s absolutely adorable, but this book is pretty cute too, and that’s all thanks to you.

To Roma Panganiban and everyone at Janklow & Nesbit, the best agency fam.

To Ken Wright, brave captain of the Viking ship, and the muscle behind all my books. To Kendra Levin, for your early support. To Maggie Rosenthal for truly bringing this book into the world. To Nancy Hinkel—petunia! Uranium! To Kaitlin Kneafsey for getting the word out like a pro. To Felicity Vallence, James Akinaka, Shannon Spann, Jen Loja, Maggie Edkins, Claire Tattersfield, Aneeka Kalia, and everyone at Penguin Young Readers, from the copy and production editors to all the incredible folks in marketing, sales, and school and library.

To the amazing team at Hot Key for their work on the UK edition, especially Emma Matthewson, Carla Hutchinson, and Lizz Skelly.

To Hellie Ogden, Emma Winter, Zoë Nelson, Ellis Hazelgrove, and Maimy Suleiman for your foreign rights wizardry.

To Adam Silvera, for listening to me babble for an hour on your rooftop about an idea for a story that I had to write. To Gayle Forman for a much-needed pep talk. To Lauryn Chamberlain for reading everything I write. To Nicole Bleuel for helping me gather my thoughts. To Patrice Caldwell for the “Has anyone actually read it yet?” moments. To Angie Thomas, Becky Albertalli, Adib Khorram, and Sara Farizan for your amazing blurbs. To all my friends for your support, especially my writing friends: Laura Sebastian, Mark Oshiro, Emily X.R. Pan, Cristina Arreola, Jeremy West, Jeffrey West, MJ Franklin, Dhonielle Clayton, Zoraida Córdova, and many more I’m sure I missed.