Katie Alender

“Loving this quote: "Find the people who treat you the way you deserve to be treated. Tell everyone else to go to hell and don't look back.”

“As I went to stand up, I felt a tiny point of pressure on my back."Don't move," Kasey whispered.I stayed bent over."Drop the knife," she said."Excuse me, I'm using it," I said.She swallowed hard. "For what?""Mom and Dad. You."The pressure on my back increased. "Drop it, Alexis."Drop it? Like I was a bad dog running around with a sock in my mouth."How long will this take?" I asked, setting the knife on the floor. "I'm in the middle of something."Get in the bathroom," she said.The faster I indulged her, the faster it would be over with. So I walked into the bathroom. She followed, kicking the knife toward the end of the hallway and flipping on the bathroom light. "What's this all about, Kasey?" I asked, turning around. At the sight of my face, she gasped, and the point of the fireplace poker she was holding wavered in her hands. I realized a second too late that I'd missed my chance to grab it and smash it into the side of her head. "What's happening to you?" she whispered. I glanced in the mirror. The darkness had begun to spread from my mouth and eyes. It leached out in inky puddles with thin tendrils of black snaking out in delicate feathery patterns.What's happening to me? What was she talking about?"So you have a pointy stick," I said. "Big deal. get out of my way.""What are you going to do?" I sneered. "Poke me?"'I'll hit you, Lexi." Her face was stony. "As hard as I have to."Whatever. I'm really not in the mood. "Can we talk about this in the morning?" I asked. After I kill you?"No," her eyes hardened. "Get your toothbrush.""What?""Pick up your toothbrush, and stick it down your throat.""Kasey-""Do it," she said."Ugh, fine. You're sick, you know that?""Get in the tub.""Happy?"I stuck the toothbrush into my throat. Instantly, I gagged and doubled over."Do it again," she said."God Kasey," I cried. Stabbing people was one thing. But making them barf- that was just disturbing.”

“I've been bad.I've been good.Weak and Strong.Brave and afraid.A hero and a killer.”

“You can leave a door open for your 'friends,' but the truth is anybody can come in through that open door. And how do you know these friends are who they say they are, anyway?”

“And I thought chivalry was dead!"..."Maybe it is. I opened a door into her head.”

“I'm a giant pimple on the face of humanity.”

“I longed to be wrapped in his arms again, pour my troubles, make everything feel okay, even if it wasn't”

“It wouldn't hurt you to show a little school spirit," Mom said. As if she were a fan of high school football. Mom can take a simple obvservation, such as saying that it wouldn't hurt for a person to show a little school spirit, and say it in such a way that she might as well be saying, 'It wouldn't hurt you to stop clubbing those baby seals.”

“I can't help it, Alexis," he said "I want to make you think too much...and then I want to hear the things you've been thinking too much.”

“That's the pathetic thing about high school. Everyone tries so hard to be something they aren't. It's gotten so I don't know who I am, so how can I even try to be who I am, much less who I'm not? My problem is that I don't even fit in with the misfits. I don't fit anywhere.”

“preps are like cheerleaders, except less jumpy”

“I hope you don't really see yourself that way," I said.He turned to look at me and narrowed his eyes. "How do you see me?" he said softly.... "I think you're. . ." My voice went nearly silent. "Dangerous.""Why?" he whispered....". . . You make me think too much.".... "I can't help it, Alexis," he said. "I want to make you think too much. . . and then I want to hear the things you've been thinking. . . too much.”

“Just say something real. Everyone just always tries so hard, and it all comes out the same. I just want someone to say something real.”

“Hmmph. Young Republicans have weird senses of humor.”

“Somehow suspension sounded way worse than detention. Detention happens to everybody. Suspension, though - that's for the sociopaths.I wasn't a hundred percent sure I was ready to take that leap.”

“Oh." He sat in confused silence for a few seconds. "Can I ask you a very serious question?""I rather you didn't," I said.He stared straight into my eyes. "If you were an animal, what animal would you be?"WAIT, WHAT? "Wait, what?""It's a classic icebreaker.""If I were an ANIMAL...?"He faked a sigh and checked an imaginary watch. "Your inability to answer the question doesn't bode well for-""I refuse to answer that," I said. "On the grounds that it's probably the stupidest thing I've ever been asked."He stared at me, frowning. "I hear your subconscious saying MONKEY.”