Elizabeth Scott

“It was like we were all so busy trying to be happy or saying we were happy, but underneath there was nothing but bitterness, the kind that could only be bled out in ink, in unspoken word.”

“The world will knock you down plenty. You don't need to be doing it to yourself.”

“You can't go back to how things were. How you thought they were. All you really have... is now”

“You ready?" Evan asks, and he's looking at me, and I love his hair, I love his smile, I lo--"I Love You," I say, and as I watch his smile bloom I finally get how great those three little words are. I finally get what they really mean.”

“All right, you caught me. I'm secretly obsessed with you and spend all my free time writing about you in my journal. 'Dear Diary, today Will was an ass for the 467th day in a row. He's so dreamy”

“I deserved the shaking and the headaches and the fact that every single time I took a breath I felt a squeezing in my chest, my heart beating even though I wished it wasn't.”

“The thing is, that world doesn't exist. All growing up means is that your realize no one will come along to fix things. No one will come along to save you.”

“I suppose he's making a real fashion statement, but this is high school. You're not supposed to be real. You're supposed to be enough like everyone else to get through and out into the waiting world.”

“The sun will rise tomorrow. It always does, and all the wishing in the world for the way things were, or for what they could have been, won't change that. It won't change how things are.”

“There are a million rules for being a girl. There are a million things you have to do to get through each day. High school has things that can trip you up, ruin you, people say one thing and mean another, and you have to know all the rules, you have to know what you can and can't do.”

“Look at me. We aren´t them lauren. You´re not your mother or father any more than I´m my mother. You´re you and I´m me and I love you.”

“I'd forgotten how much feelings hurt.”

“I AM FREE.”

“I didn't want it to be one good memory that led to a lot of bad ones. I wanted it to stay what it was, one amazing moment, something that was strong and sweet enough to stand on its own. Something I could remember without any pain. - Kate”

“My father looked like he was having a stroke— notthat Mel seemed to notice because he just kept talking.“Patrick needs a ride. No car, you know, and so I figured,hey, I can pick up some gas money.” He laughed. No oneelse did, and now Patrick looked like he was trying topush himself inside the door and hide.”

“ I never went for thetalkers.”

“But the past coupleof days I’ve missed you so much it’s felt like missing youis all I am.”

“I wants us to be real. I want to be just you and me. - Ryan”

“I know who I want to be with, and it isn't her.- Ryan”

“She became a story, one I have mostly forgotten. One I can't end because she died a long time ago.”

“I have been smashed and put back together so many times nothing works right. Nothing is where it should be, heavy thumping in my shoulder where my heart now beats.”

“I thought living dead girls couldn't feel pain, thought I was emptied out but I'm not, I'm not.”

“This is what happiness is, past the rubbish of its overuse as a word, past the cracked gloss of the letters that mean nothing when strung together. They mean something now, and I know what it's like when you and someone else are right together. How simple is is, and how amazing.”

“This is the real unwritten rule: You don't want what you know you shouldn't. And I haven't just broken that rule. I have wrecked it, smashed it, and still... And still I want.”

“Kate, don't be like that. You know I only did so well because I yearn-see, SAT word- to follow you to college and steal your heart." "Uh-huh. Too bad for you I don't plan on attending clown college." He grinned. "Only you would ignore the incredibly sweet thing I just said." "Only you would describe one of your asinine comments as incredibly sweet.”

“Vitamins ruined my life. Not that there was much left to ruin, but still. I know that blaming vitamins for my horrible life sounds strange. After all, vitamins are supposed to keep people healthy. Also, they're inanimate objects. But thanks to them I was stuck in the Jackson Center Mall watching my father run around in a bee costume.”

“I'm so not interesting in having to try and make something out of foil."What, you didn't like the poncho with wraparound leggings?"It was beyond hideou- wait a minute. You watch that show?"My mom loves it."But your suppose to be sulking in the basement getting ready to light fires."What can I say? I'm a failure as a teenager. I watch TV with my mom.”

“ I've been taught that love is beautiful and kind, but it isn't like that at all. It is beautiful, but it's a terrible beauty, a ruthless one, and you fall-you fall, and the thing is- The thing is you want to. You don't care what's coming you just want who your heart beats for.”

“I told you we were meant to be," he says, still smiling, still so Finn, who was always here but who I just didn't see and now--Well, now I kiss him.”

“My mother taught me to believe in silver, to believe in things, but I think it's more important to believe in me.”

“The truth is, I feel beyond sad. I feel empty. Numb. ”

“I knew I was having a panic attack. I hadn't had one in a while, though, and I'd forgotton how they made everything like it- and I- was going to fall apart. How they reminded me of how trapped I was.”

“I do not fall. I fell so hard so long ago there is nothing left for me to land on. I justkeep falling and falling and falling.”

“I don’t know, shifted a little or something, smoothed down–people would think of me the way they think of Dave, and everything would always be perfect. I would be perfect.”

“Little Alice, all hollowed out, so easy to smash into a million little pieces.”

“Once upon a time, I did not live in Shady Pines. Once upon a time, my name was not Alice. Once upon a time, I didn't know how lucky I was.”

“Grace is my favourite church word. A state of being. Something you can pray for. Something God can grant. Something you can obtain. Perfection is out of reach. But grace -- grace you can reach for.”

“Things end. People leave. And you know what? Life goes on. Besides, if bad things didn't happen, how would you be able to feel the good ones?”

“Wherever I go, I'll always see you. You'll always be with me. And there's no happy ending coming here, no way a story that started on a night that's burned into my heart will end the way I wish it could. You're really gone, no last words, and no matter how many letters I write to you, you're never going to reply. You're never going to say good-bye. So I will. Good-bye, Julia. Thank you for being my friend. Thank you for being you.”

“I'll always remember taking your hand and telling you that everything would be okay.”

“the thing is you can get used to anything you think you cant you want to die but you dont you cant you just are”

“Why do people think being with someone is the answer to everything?”

“Cute" is one of those words people use when they know you're smart enough to realize "you've got so much personality" means "you're ugly.”

“The story of my life can be told in silver: in chocolate mills, serving spoons, and services for twelve. The story of my life has nothing to do with me. The story of my life is things. Things that aren’t mine, that won’t ever be mine. It’s all I’ve ever known.I wish it wasn’t.”

“Things change. Stuff happens. Life goes on.”

“I love the me I am with him. I’m the girl who has Dave. I’m Lauren, Dave’s girlfriend. I’m someone better than Lauren Smith, who no one noticed till Dave came along. The thing is, that girl isn’t me and I know it. But when I’m with him, I feel like I could be her. That if something in me was just–I don’t know, shifted a little or something, smoothed down–people would think of me the way they think of Dave, and everything would always be perfect. I would be perfect.”