Gwen Hayes

“El tiempo no cura todas las heridas.Ayuda. Pero el tiempo no puede hacerlo por sí mismo. Si pretendes no teneruna herida, por ejemplo, hay muy poco que el tiempo puede hacer por la heridaexcepto permitirle supurar.”

“Él miró sus cicatrices y se dio cuentaque no eran las que la dañan. Las cicatrices internas, las realmente profundas,eran las que aún le daba problemas y él las había abierto todas de vuelta paraella.”

“And then I met this girl.” He paused, his fingers finding mine in a tight squeeze. “And she made all my dark corners light”

“You look worse today than you did when you had two blackeyes.”“Why, thank you, Tyler. You always say the sweetest things.”

“I’d like to make it clear from the start that I am gay, gay,gay. Like, when I come out of the closet, I’m usually wearingmy sister’s prom dress kind of gay.”

“She wiped her eye and pressed her lips together. “I sleep in your room. I’m fairly pathetic about it, really. I wear your T-shirts to bed and watchyour movies.” She paused. “And you don’t even remember me.”This time I stopped walking. “Do you think it’s easy for me?” She had gotten a few steps ahead and turned to look back at me. “No, I don’tremember you. I don’t remember holding you or talking to you or falling in love with you—but I walk around with a giant hole in my heart all the time. Ifeel your absence every second of the day. It aches and nothing soothes it. Losing you is bad enough, but I don’t even get the comfort ofremembering that I had you once.”

“Sometimes, people are like that. So pretty on the outside...horrible cake on the inside.”

“Some girls will love you for your intelligence, your spirit, or your smile. Some girls will fall all over themselves if you even make the smallest effort to understand them. Some girls don't care how you act as long as you drive a nice car(And some boys deserve those kind of girls. i'm just sayin'.) Some girls will require a lot more from you than most guys are willing to give. This is the girl you'll need a lot of patience for, because she will lead you down blind paths and up steep hills. The challenge will be staying true to who you are while pursuing this person. She'll wring you out, simultaneously repel and attract you, and question your every intention. She'll be the biggest pain in the asphalt you've ever had. She'll need you to understand what she won't tell you, believe in her when she extends no faith in you, and not give in to her when she wants to roll over you. She'll expect that you'll always be there, even when she avoids you. She'll want lots of independence but want you to need her desperately. She'll expect you to be smart but treat her like she's smarter than you. Hopefully, you'll believe she's worth it in the end.”

“Some high school boys define themselves by their peers, some by their dreams, and some by their wallets. They are characterized by their family ties, their sense of humor, their cultivated skills, and their natural talent. Some want a girl for a week. Some hope it lasts a lifetime. Some don't even want a girl at all.”

“You'll be really sorry of you try to bypass all the detours. You don't want to get to your destination and not remember anything about the trip.”

“I like people, kind of. I even like boys, mostly. But I was beginning to feel like that stewardess who smiles at you when you get off the plane. Behind the smile you know she really wishes she could trip someone.”

“The devil was his most dangerous when he wasn't being devilish.”

“He wished he could show her the memory of the very first timehe’d laid eyes upon her. A random moment, his window to herworld, and yet ithad pierced his excuse for a soul as if it were destiny. As if shewere his destiny. A thousand times he’d looked through the realms,but oneglimpse had forever changed their paths.”

“Minx,” he whispered before he left me to get dressed so that we could plan our new destiny.”

“How can I be sure? Tell me something only you would know.” There went his hands to his hair again. And when that frustrated him, he did the fist thing. So far,he was very convincing. “You want trivia right now?”“Yes!” Why did he always make things so difficult? Add another check to the “He’s probably Gabe” list.“Like what?” I had to stop looking at his head. “I don’t know.What tattoo do I have on my left boob?”“I thought you said to tel you something only I would know.”

“Haden flashed me a grin. “You ever been stumping?”“Er … I don’t even know what that is.”“It involves muddy logging roads, four-wheel drive, and holding on to the ‘oh, shit’ handle above your door.”

“I just called to tell you good night. Get some sleep, Theia. Tomorrow is a big day.”“I would sleep much better if you were here.” As soon as the words spilled out of my mouth,I wanted to die of embarrassment. Haden and I were close, but we hadn’t gotten that close yet. “I mean . . . it’s just that when you’re near I’m not as agitated. Not that I want to sleep with you.” I needed to stop talking—I was making it worse.“You don’t?” He was teasing now. “Now you’ve hurt my male pride.”

“Apparently, during the ‘80s, nobody really dressed like Madonna except for Madonna.”

“If I ever offer to plan your wedding or sweet sixteen or something, do yourself a favor and run away screaming.”

“Having a guy friend is pretty awesome if you're a girl and you pick the right guy.""And why is that?" she asked"You always have someone to open mayonnaise jars and you don't have to shave your legs for him""I never thought of that. That makes me the luckiest girls in the worl, doesn't it?”

“Plus my boots were made of awesome.”

“Danger doesn't always greet with bared fangs. Sometimes it seduces with a willowy caress, a sigh of pleasure, and then turns carnivorous with whipcrack intensity.”

“Every time that boy smiles, somewhere a puppy died.”

“He smiled. I was unprepared for my reaction to the most potent weapon Haden had in his arsenal—a real smile, one that reached his eyes.One genuine emotion was enough to unravel my life from the security of everything I’d ever known.For seventeen years, I’d tried to live Father’s way. Each step measured, my words carefully chosen. In his fortress of fears, I grew up—but not strong. I yearned to replace the hole in his heart left by my mother, so my life never belonged to me. My own heart was my weakest muscle, never exercised, never even flexed.Suddenly, I understood that it still miraculously worked. And it was full. So full it felt like rays of sunshine were bursting through my chest, poking out of me in radiant splendor. Haden spellbound me and life changed to Technicolor. In his smile, I felt the bindings that tethered my spirit rip away.”

“As a young girl I thought, with fervent hope, that ten years was some kind of magic formula. That if I were seventeen instead of seven, I would know how to handle myself better in a situation. That a passing decade would fill in all the cracks where I ached, by adding wisdom or, at the very least, understanding.”

“Are you sure you're a girl?"I shrugged, "Most of the time.”

“Every girl dreams about having her very own demon, but stalker is another story.”

“So Ame stayed home like a good girl, and I snuck out like a bad one. I already longed for a good book and my quilt.”

“Empty of anything that defined it as real. That was how I felt sometimes. I existed in a world made for show, not depth, not feeling.”

“Sometimes the answers are more questions. Sometimes up is down.”

“A dream caused by too much reading and not enough sleeping.”

“Look, I'm a guy. Your ass was touching my groin. Of course I'm going to pop a boner. It's a natural reaction.”

“Theia: "We're very high up here, aren't we?" Haden: "Well, you certainly are. Theia, I need you to wake up." Theia: "Did you know that I have never seen a penis?" He laughed again. "When you wake up, you are going to hate yourself.”

“I don't know how I'd made it seventeen years without kissing. It was the finest thing I'd ever known. Like stumbling into heaven.”

“I went home that day, and I wrote your name over and over on a piece of paper. I must have written it a hundred times. My mom found the paper a few days later in my sock drawer. She wanted to know why I'd done that..."I wanted to know why more than anything I'd ever remembered wanting, but a part of me hoped he'd chicken out."I told her I liked the way your name made my heart jump.”

“Layney - "I hear they sell them at Evil ’R Us. You have an accountthere, don’t you? Maybe you can pick one up on the ‘stillbeating/just pulled from a sacrifice’ aisle.”Jimmy - “Do you have any idea how expensive those are? Even withmy discount.”

“It’s true that I never want to hurt you. But I can’t promise you that I never would" -Haden”

“I had no business inviting other people’s emotions into my life when I had no idea what to do with my own.”

“...Ame when this is all over we need to have a serious discussion about Mike. I think he has way too much frosting on his flakes.- Donnatella”

“Sneetches" was what we called the in-crowd at school, the haves as opposed to the have-nots. We named them from a Dr. Suess story in which the Star-Belly Sneetches, who were born with a green star on their bellies, thought they were better than all those who had no green star- or in this case green money.”

“Repressing is a natural instinct, but it doesn't allow for healing. Coming out of repression can be very similar to reliving the original fear. I'm sure not everyone who needs help gets help they need, and that may not necessarily mean they won't be okay.”

“When something bad happens to us, especially when we are young, our brains will sometimes protect us from it until we are strong enough to deal with the issue. It's not uncommon for people to completely black out an experience for years and revisit it only when they feel safe enough to face it.”

“Sometimes, talking about our fears can lessen the fear.”

“Just because you took too much for granted before, doesn't mean you can't learn from your mistakes.”

“For a sweeter kiss had never been bestowed upon a girl. Not in storybooks or real life.Not in heaven or hell.”

“Donny recovered herself. “Dude, that was the seventh sign of the apocalypse. I’m so not going to class on the last day of the world.”

“My best advice is to be yourself. Unless you’re psychotic, then you might want to try a different tactic.”

“Just remember, a dark shadow need light to exist but light doesn't need darkness to be luminous.”

“You're the most open girl in our whole school.""I don't think she meant that in a good way.”

“Who was your first kiss?” Heat rushed into my face. I flattered myself by thinking maybe he wanted to kiss me. I wished he wanted to kiss me. “I haven’t …” Squeezing my eyes closed, I began again. “I haven’t been kissed. Yet.” “Why?” I rolled my eyes at his innocence. “You obviously know I’m not like other girls. I’m shy and I don’t spend time with boys. My father is strict and—” “That’s not why.” He thought he knew me so well.“Fine. You tell me why I haven’t been kissed.” I regretted the words and my tone instantly. What if he told me what I already knew? That I was lacking. Not interesting or pretty enough. “You were waiting.”