Paper Towns

Quentin is a senior at Winter Park High School in Orlando, FL. He has woken up late on Wednesday morning, and his mother has to drive him to school instead of him catching a ride with his friends. She talks to him about prom and school on the ride over, though Quentin does not believe in prom. When he finally arrives at school, his best friend, Ben Starling, informs him that Radar, his other best friend, has made plans to go to prom with one of their classmates, Angela. Though Quentin has no interest in attending prom, Ben is obsessed with the idea of finding a date for prom. Ben relates his attempts at trying to find a prom date, many of which have failed because of the “Bloody Ben story,” a rumor started in the tenth grade by Margo’s best friend Becca Arrington. When Ben was hospitalized for a kidney infection, Becca told their classmates that the blood found in Ben’s urine was really a symptom of chronic masturbation. Regardless of the rumor’s absurdity and inaccuracy, it has stuck with Ben ever since.

Quentin sees Margo standing in the hallway with her boyfriend, a baseball player named Jase Worthington. Margo is laughing emphatically, and her presence instantly distracts Quentin from his conversation with Ben. As he watches her, he thinks about the various adventures and exploits that Margo is famous for, such as traveling with a circus and running away to Mississippi. Though no one can really believe the stories are real, they always prove to be true, casting Margo as a “free-spirited” beauty who makes her own rules.

Ben and Quentin meet up with Radar and try to learn more about his relationship with Angela. Radar evades their inquiries for the most part, and instead talks animatedly about a reference site he spends most of his waking hours updating, called Omnictionary. As they talk, Chuck Parson, an athlete and school bully, begins to harass Quentin, asking him what he knows about Jase and Margo. Quentin’s friendship with Margo has cooled over the years, so he genuinely knows nothing about her personal life, including her relationship with Jase. As the group of friends head to class, Quentin comments on how easy it is for him and his friends to joke around and talk about prom, and to feel that nothing else in the world really matters. 

Though Quentin thinks the whole idea of prom is pointless, Ben admits to Quentin during their lunch break that he really wants to go to prom, even though he has been rejected by the girl he had in mind. As they talk, a girl approaches and introduces herself as Angela, Radar’s girlfriend. Angela is concerned because she and Radar have been dating for five weeks and he has yet to invite her to his house. She wonders if Radar might be embarrassed of her. Quentin and Ben exchange knowing looks and Quentin quickly informs her that Radar’s parents are just “overprotective.” Angela leaves in good spirits, with Ben and Quentin wondering how long it will be until Angela finds out the real reason that Radar has yet to invite her over.

After lunch, Ben and Quentin tell Radar about their encounter with Angela. As they tease Radar about the real reason he refuses to bring her home, it is revealed that Radar’s parents own the world’s largest collection of black Santas. His entire house is covered in black Santa décor, and there is even a plaque near the front door declaring that the house is an official Santa Landmark.

After school, Quentin goes about his daily routine. He comments that his days are boring, and that he wants to change his routine, but that there is something comforting in the boredom. Just before midnight, Margo appears at his bedroom window. She hasn’t done this since they were nine-years-old and the two of them talked after seeing Robert Joyner’s dead body in the park. 

Quentin walks over to his bedroom window. Margo is standing there dressed in black and wearing black face paint. She tells Quentin that she needs to borrow his car, which is actually his mother’s minivan. When Quentin says no and reminds her that she has her own car, Margo tells him that her parents have locked her car keys in a safe under their bed, and that her dog, Myrna Mountweazel, will bark and give her away if she tries to break in and retrieve the keys. She also tells Quentin that she has important things to do, and that all of her plans for the night “involve a getaway man (26).” Quentin again refuses, telling her to get one of her lackeys, like Becca or Lacey, to help. Margo then tells Quentin that they are actually a part of the problem.

Their conversation is suddenly interrupted when the lights around Margo’s house come on and her father emerges, ordering her back inside the house. Margo tries to joke with him, but he insists that she leave Quentin alone and get back inside. Before she returns home, however, she tells Quentin that she will be back shortly.

As soon as Margo leaves, Quentin grabs his car keys—the keys to his mother’s minivan—and then relates the hilarious story of his disappointment at having been given a car key for a sixteenth birthday. As most kids would, Quentin assumed his parents had bought him a car. As it turns out, it was a key to his mother’s minivan. Margo finally returns as promised, though Quentin is still reluctant to participate in whatever Margo has planned. She tries to tell him that they are friends, but Quentin says they are neighbors now, not friends, which upsets Margo. She reveals that she has been looking out for him all this time in school, and that she is the reason that the popular kids leave him alone. When she again tells him that they have to go, he finally follows.

As they drive through Jefferson Park, Margo tells Quentin about the extreme measures her parents have taken to ensure that she does not sneak out. They are not really concerned about her leaving, however, only about the embarrassment she causes them in front of their friends and neighbors, like Quentin’s parents. Quentin finally asks Margo where they are headed. She tells him that first they are going to Publix, a grocery store. After that, they will head to Wal-Mart. Margo says that the night will be spent righting wrongs. She takes out several hundred-dollar bills, which she says is bat mitzvah money. Quentin is in awe, and Margo tells him that this is going to be the best night of his life.

Margo gives Quentin a list of items to buy in Publix and one of the hundred-dollar bills. The list is random, and includes three catfish, a dozen tulips, a can of blue spray paint, and hair-removal cream. What really catches Quentin’s eye, however, is Margo’s random capitalization. Margo tells him that she capitalizes words at random in the middle of sentences as opposed to the beginning because conventional rules of capitalization are unfair to words in the middle.

When Quentin returns with the items, he worries that he will not get in to Duke University if he gets arrested on account of whatever Margo is planning. It even stated as much in his admission letter, he tells her. Margo is amazed that Quentin can actually care about things like college and the future. Quentin protests, bringing up Margo’s good grades and her admission to the University of Florida, but she changes the subject, urging Quentin to head to Wal-Mart.

Both of them go inside Wal-Mart, where Margo buys The Club, a device to lock the steering wheel of a car. Quentin asks Margo why she needs it and she again deflects his question. Instead, she begins talking about how there was never a need for planning in the past, back when the average human life span was so short. Now, however, everything is planned out. Everyone lives for the future, as opposed to living in the present.

Quentin realizes that Margo is avoiding his question and asks her again about The Club. She simply tells him that everything will be made clear before the night is over. She takes an air horn from a shelf, and just as Quentin tells her not to blow it, she does. An employee appears and tells Margo that she is not allowed to use the air horn inside the store. The employee is attracted to Margo, however, and invites her to go with him to a bar after he gets off work. Assuming Quentin is her younger brother, he tells Margo that she will have to drop him off because the place is strict about IDs. Quentin is embarrassed and upset by the employee’s assumption, telling the guy that he is not in fact her brother. Margo then places her arm around Quentin and tells the employee that Quentin is not her brother; he is her cousin and her lover. Quentin likes the feeling of Margo’s arm around him, and puts his arm around her in return. He jokes that she is his favorite cousin. She smiles, and then wiggles out of his embrace.