Kismet

Kismet is one of the main characters of the novel. At the start of the novel, Kismet is finishing her last year of high school. For years, Kismet has been treated as an outsider and actively bullied by her peers and classmates. Therefore, when popular football player, Gary Geist starts to pursue her, Kismet agrees to start seeing him despite her tepid feelings towards him. She continues to maintain this relationship even after Gary proposes and she refuses him. Meanwhile, Kismet is seeing another, younger peer named Hugo. Hugo is 16 in the narrative present, homeschooled, and working at his mom’s bookstore. Kismet has deep feelings for Hugo but feels compelled to marry Gary instead because of her personal anxieties and her family’s financial situation.

Kismet is a determined, empathetic, and resilient character. Like her mother Crystal, Kismet knows how to face a challenge and to work...