Contents
Prologue
Overview
Ellie Mack recounts the blissful months after she began dating Theo Goodman, the school’s most admired boy. Their effortless romance transformed daily life into joy. She then foreshadows disaster, suggesting a small misstep ended everything, including her youth and safety. The prologue sets a tone of impending loss and mystery.
Summary
Ellie Mack narrates the months before her disappearance as the happiest of her life. Each day felt like a gift as she rushed to school, thrilled to see Theo Goodman. The school environment, once confining, became the lively stage for her love story.
Ellie reflects on Theo’s reputation: the best-looking boy in their year for years, kind, thin, and thought by many to be gay. She admired how Theo showed affection to his mother and their small dog without embarrassment, reading his confidence as authenticity and decency.
After summer break, Theo casually initiated conversation about homework. Ellie immediately sensed he liked her, realized he wasn’t gay, and they became boyfriend and girlfriend with unexpected ease. This effortless beginning deepened her sense of wonder and fulfillment.
Ellie then darkens the memory. She insists that a single small misstep ended not only their relationship but her youth and life as she knew it. In hindsight she imagines warning signs, but at the time she saw none and walked straight into disaster, foreshadowing the disappearance to come.
Who Appears
- Ellie MackNarrator recalling ecstatic months dating Theo and foreshadowing a fatal misstep leading to her disappearance.
- Theo GoodmanEllie’s admired boyfriend; kind, confident, and unexpectedly initiates their relationship after summer.
- Theo’s motherSupportive, affectionate presence walking Theo to school with their small dog; emblem of his openness.