CAT BAUER

I'm crying and it's Titian's fault.

I sit at the top of the Doge's private staircase inside the Palazzo Ducale, alone except for one cuff-linked man who stands near the foot of the steps, his back to me, black hair tumbling to his collar. He cannot see my tears.

Today is my birthday. I am sixteen. I am alone, on the day I was born, in front of an ancient fresco in Italy, and I have never been kissed.

VENETIAN FAN is a short story set in Venice, Italy, in Sixteen: Stories About That Sweet and Bitter Birthday, an anthology edited by Megan McCafferty. Authors include some of the most popular and critically acclaimed writers for and about teens: Sarah Dessen, Carolyn Mackler, Cat Bauer, Joseph Weisberg, M.T. Anderson, Sonya Sones, Tanuja Desai Hidier, Jacqueline Woodson, Julianna Baggott, Steve Almond, Ned Vizzini, Emma Forrest, Zoe Trope, and Sarah Mlynowski. Published by Three Rivers Press, an imprint of the Crown Publishing Group.