Jennifer Echols

“Waiter, this is not the policeman I ordered. I wanted one with a lot less sauce.”

“And you told me the biggest lie of all. You told me you loved me,” It was my turn to wince like he’d slapped me. “I don’t remember saying that” “You would if it had been true. You would feel something”

“I knew exactly what you'd done. I know that feelings. You have to do something. You have to change something radically, because you can't stay like you are for another second, or you're going to explode.”

“No, I didn't remember the deer. Is the deer okay?''Fuck the deer. Hush now.”

“What happened was, I told you I loved you.”

“Officer After leaned across the seat toward me - which, under the circumstances, made me start back. 'I'm sorry I'm not allowed to beat the shit out of him for you.”

“Me?' I laughed. 'I'm guilty.”

“No. I just don't want to be a detective. They figure out what happened after the fact, when it's too late. I want to prevent it from happening.”

“Friends my ass.”

“Yeah, I understood that last night at the wreck. Nothing says I love you like a dead body.”

“He looked over at me. “Indigo,” he said. “Cyan”. He glanced at the road in front of him, glanced at me. He reached over and ran his fingers down one of the darkest strands in the back, where I’d used a little purple. “Violet.”

“Nothing says "I love you" like a dead body”

“I'm dating Brandon," I told his bowed head."Really?" he asked without looking up."Yes!""I'll print you a wallet card to whip out every time you need to say that, so you can save your voice.""Could you laminate it?”

“Consider yourself hugged. Virtual hug."I felt the virtual hug, warm and snug.”

“I should have run away from you and started college and gone on without you. But I would always have regretted it if I didn't give this a shot.- Tiffany”

“That's stupid. I said no because you don't love me.- John”

“My knee radiated heat. As I watched him pull himself from the car and walk casually across the brightly lit parking lot, I thought dumb things. I will never wash my knee again. I will never wash these jeans again. I will cut the knee out of these jeans and sew a pillow to sleep on every night, just to have a molecule of him in my bed with me.”

“I swear, Tiff, if my ass made good grades, you'd want to date my ass.”

“Your lot in life? A lot is something you draw, like straws. It's chance. You didn't get this life by chance. You chose it on purpose. If you're dissatisfied from it, you can change it.”

“That is the way convince people. Or change them and prevent them from hurting whether themselves and others. Art is the most effective form of communication.You can use it to lift the human spirit and make them understand that there is more to life than their next drug use.”

“Love hurt. Honesty made it hurt worse, and I could hardly stand it.”

“I turned to the clarinets. They were a resourceful lot.”

“I guess we both understood that our relationship was built entirely on witty repartee, and neither of us thought we could be witty on four hours of shut-eye.”

“You can't tell a seventeen-year-old anything. They think they're immortal. They don't listen. Seventeen-year-olds have to see it for themselves.”

“I am full of fear.”

“His dark eyes challenged me. They were weapons that could hurt me. Here was the worst thing about them: I could tell that if Johnafter loved you, his dark eyes would be beautiful and friendly and warm. So every time he cut me down with a look that was cold and unfriendly and ugly, it was a double insult, a reminder of what I could never have. I found myself avoiding his dark eyes when I could.”

“Vat have you been up to, Governor?' Skip asked with an Arnold Swarzenegger accent.The relentless pursuit of crime,' John said. He pronounced crime with a long southern drawl and a wink. Then he burst into laugher with the rest of them.Seeing him jogging at the park had cracked a window so I could peek into his soul. Seeing him with his friends threw the window wide open.He was so nineteen.”

“Did you alltake your pants off? The swim team really knows how to throw a party.”

“Brandon is your boyfriend, right. You keep saying ‘Brandon is my boyfriend,’” he moved his fingers in quote marks, “and it makes as much sense as ‘I am balancing the planet Pluto on my big toe’ or ‘Kumquats make the best nuclear physicists.”

“You’re an escapee from the loony bin,” I said. “You’re the butt of every joke ever told. You might as well be the chicken that crossed the road.”

“Of course I don't faint at the sight of blood. I jump onto the dance floor and do the Soulja Boy. Get the hell off me, Dr. McDreamy.”

“And the rest is happily ever After.”

“You had a bet. You couldn't lose a bet. If you had a choice between me and winning, you'll choose winning every time. It's still true.”

“Nick might have enjoyed making out with me. He might even want to be with me. But more than anything, Nick wanted to win. And winning me over wasn't enough. ”

“I understand I can’t have you. But I want to know you’re in the world with me.”

“All right," I said. "But from now on, every time you show me a dead body, I'm having sex with Eric.”