Paper Towns — Chapter no 48

I sleep.

Hour Eighteen

I sleep.

Hour Nineteen

When I wake up, Radar and Ben are loudly debating the name of the car.

Ben would like to name it Muhammad Ali, because, just like Muhammad

Ali, the minivan takes a punch and keeps going. Radar says you can’t name

a car after a historical figure. He thinks the car ought to be called Lurlene,

because it sounds right.

“You want to name it Lurlene?” Ben asks, his voice rising with the

horror of it all. “Hasn’t this poor vehicle been through enough?!”

I unbuckle one seat belt and sit up. Lacey turns around to me. “Good

morning,” she says. “Welcome to the great state of New York.”

“What time is it?”

“Nine forty-two.” Her hair is pulled back in a ponytail, but the shorter

strands have strayed. “How’s it going?” she asks.

I tell her. “I’m scared.”

Lacey smiles at me and nods. “Yeah, me, too. It’s like there’s too many

things that could happen to prepare for all of them.”

“Yeah,” I say.