Many friends deserve to be thanked. Several took the time to read the first draft and give me their thoughts, including Kathryn Tohir (we miss her), Bob Potter, Mike Balay, Alison Belknap, Rob Schade, Judy Lewis, Eric Mogilnicki, and Stephan Skinner. Thanks also to the Manuels (Charlie, Amo, and Tristan), Scott McNealy, Mark Anderson, Andrew Ehrgood, Ralph Gill, Daniel Tenreiro, the Deplorables (Dave Tohir, Dan Mahony, and Bill Sawch), Melissa Fleming, Scott Edmonds (for legal advice), and Shelley Dempsey of Families Advocating for Campus Equality, who generously assisted with my understanding of Title IX practices. Special thanks to Elizabeth Beier of St. Martin’s for taking a flier on a first-time novelist, and to my brother, Sim Johnston, a better writer than I.
Lastly, thanks to my family, Kelley, Tucker, Caroline, and Brady, for not thinking this was a crazy idea. (Okay, that’s not exactly right.…) Particular thanks to Tucker for telling me when I was getting college argot totally wrong.