The Theory of Opposites by Allison Winn Scotch

proposal,” Vanessa says. “I met with the Dare You team and my publisher this morning.”
    “If you want me to sign a waiver to be your next of kin because they’re requiring you to skydive without a parachute, I’m going to have to draw the line.”
    “No,” she says. “It’s nothing like that.” Then she reconsiders. “Well, it’s sort of like that.”
    The French Canadians filter down the hallway, but we stay put, still staring at the human heart, at its power, at its ability to grant life and to take it away.
    “What if I told you that we had the chance to prove once and for all that your dad isn’t right? That you don’t have to sit around and wait for August for your life to begin?”
    “Can we get off the subject of August? I really don’t want to delve into it right now.”
    She waves a hand, dismissing me. “Okay, what if I told you that we are the masters of our fate, that life is what we make of it?”
    “I’d tell you that the Nobel Prize committee would disagree with us.”
    “Fuck the Nobel Prize committee.”
    “Actually, my dad would say the same thing.”
    Vanessa smiles, so I gather the strength to smile too.
    “I pitched my editors a new idea. A better idea. And they love it. I told them that I found the loophole in your dad’s theories.”
    “There isn’t a loophole, Vanessa. Part of the reason it’s so brilliant is that you can’t disprove that something didn’t happen on purpose. You can’t disprove an intangible proof.”
    “I believe that you can. But I need you to trust me.”
    “V,” I say, “You know that I trust you, but I’m not really interested.”
    She grabs my wrist and forces my gaze.
    “Willa, don’t you ever wonder what would happen with your life if you hadn’t been born William, if you’d actually been given a chance without your dad?”
    Every day, I think. Though that’s not necessarily true. Some days, and even then, it’s exhausting to consider the alternatives, so mostly, I don’t.
    “Please, come with me. Write this book. Tell this story. At the very least, we might change our lives.”
    I can feel my own heart, just like the frozen one on the pedestal in front of me, come to life, beating with anxiety, beating with fear, beating from the utter terror of taking a leap that might change everything.
    “I like my life,” I say finally.
    “Actually,” she reminds me, “you sort of don’t.”

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    Theodore Brackton — Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia
    Preview: Theodore Brackton (b. April 14, 1978) is the successful founder of the firm: Y.E.S., also known as Your Every Success. Since its inception in 2008, Brackton has helped thousands of CEOs and major power players assess the odds of successful decision-making by analytic research, as well as what Time magazine cites as “one of the best gut-checks in the business.” It was rumored that President Obama personally...

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    Preview: A hundred of the who’s-who of Seattle’s hipster, fashion and tech scene mingled last night at Tom Douglas’s hot spot, Seatown. There wasn’t a hotter invitation in town as everyone who’s anyone clamored to get a peek at the 33-year-old whom Time magazine called