ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

One Direction—I love you! Thank you for all that you’ve done for me without really trying.

Thank you to my agent, Laura Usselman, who got me and this idea immediately. (Our first conversation was as thrilling as the best first date you can imagine— I remember what I wore, but not what I ate.) Thank you to Jackson Howard for taking a “chonce” on a book about a boy band that doesn’t exist anymore, and for so kindly punching a first draft of a first book into the shape of something I didn’t want to disown.

Thank you to my editors at The Verge and Vox and The Atlantic—especially Chris Plante, the last great blogger, and Julia Rubin, the world’s humblest visionary. Thank you to Amelia Holowaty-Krales, my favorite photographer! Thank you to my parents for their unconditional stan behavior, to my sisters for calling me a “fake fan” whenever I missed a meme, and to all the brilliant friends who help me think through everything, without whom I would be very lonely and very stupid: Katie, Stephanie, Tamar, Lizzie, Ashley, James, and Sam, my New York heroes. Thank you to Nathan for watching parts of the One Direction documentary and for being so tall and composed in a crisis.

Finally, thank you to all the One Direction fans who spoke to me for this book. It’s an honor simply to be mutuals.