"Lots of reasons, I guess," Karla said. "That's probably part of it, though. I never entirely knew where we stood with one another. But there are other things, too. I'm from a completely different world. What's the point of falling in love, when we'll probably just have to part at graduation?"

There were other, darker reasons why Karla found it hard to trust someone enough to fall in love, but those weren't the kind of reasons you shared at a party with a female you barely knew.