Hello, querido reader. Do you like poetry? Maybe you like songs? Do songs get trapped in your head like a rat on sticky paper? Are you afraid of dying and does it fuel you? We aren't trying to sell you anything, but consider hanging us on your wall. Primero que todo, we love chisme. What is a meal without the seasoning of gossip? What is a conversation without a little talking-some-shit? We make eyes at each other through the trees. We clink our beers together on rooftops. We send messages later, on the car ride home. We all know the story of Selena Quintanilla. The Tejana pop star who was murdered by her best friend and the manager of her fan club, Yolanda Saldivar. There are heroes. There are villains. There are fans. There are girls trying to find their reflection in a rippling pond, and then feeling startled when a piece of gum falls out of their mouth. There is a frog that thinks the gum is a fly and chokes to death. Where were we? This is a story of mirrors, or what happens when you bring the mirror back from the dead and when you look in it you see yourself eating yourself. This is about You, except when it's not about you. This is a love story. But it isn't our story. However, as chismosas, we feel that it happened to us. So we believe we are the best ones to tell it. We will try to tell it to you the best that we can. First, let's introduce our speaker, Melissa, who does not speak entirely for us. She is a girl who dreamsa lot. Excerpted from Dreaming of You: A Novel in Verse by Melissa Lozada-Oliva All rights reserved by the original copyright owners. Excerpts are provided for display purposes only and may not be reproduced, reprinted or distributed without the written permission of the publisher.