Carol M. Tanzman

“Just making sure you know I got home. Two hours ago. when I beeped the first time.Clearly, I am not cut out for a life of crime.”

“I remember what he was wearing. A navy-blue coat and that Harry Potter scarf.""What the heck's a Harry Potter scarf?" Jacy snorts, "Low-rent Invisibility Cloak? Only your neck disappears.”

“Right now you're all staring at me like you're shocked. Because I'm not as 'smart' as Jacy, or as 'arty' as Ali, or as 'cool-looking as Clarissa. You think I don't know anything-""That's not true," I say loyally.Sonya waves it aside. "I'm not mad. I'm just saying, People look at me and think, 'boring fat chick.' They do, I know. But they don't realize I read Philosophy books and other hard stuff. Even your best friends might not know your deepest secrets.”

“Just because someone else helped you get it doesn't mean you don't deserve it.”

“Sometimes one person's courage is greater than another's fear.”

“We all have more inside us that we're willing to share. Sometimes it's heartbreak, or fear, that drives us to reach out potential.”

“Making a dance is about taking what's unseen in the world and giving it form. It's not about pretty steps.""I thought it was."Eva laughs. "The piece doesn't have to end nicely, either. Life isn't pretty - why should every dance be?”

“Feeling sorry for yourself is better than being sorry”

“You dance like you don't give a flying taquito what anyone thinks.""Flying what?""You're just so... into it, Half the school wishes they were you, and the other half wished they loved something as much as you love dance.”

“Knowing him, he's probably got zero underwear because of the August heat wave.”

“There she is-dancergirl. But she doesn't even notice me. To her, I'm invisible. Should I go up to her, say something? Not a chance! All I can do is watch from afar. Hoping that one day, she'll see me.”

“That's when I understand why I dance. For some people, it's the only way to make sense of the past, to get to the meaning behind the present. To find your true self.”