Laura Buzo

“Finishing Year Twelve had been a blessed relief. Although, having read Looking for Alibrandi several times since Year Eight, I was disappointed when Year Twelve did not bring me a handsome, salt-of-the-earth boyfriend and ultimate emancipation from all that ailed my teenage soul.”

“He would learn to accept his defeat gracefully – unlike Gatsbywith the shotgun – and decide to get on with his life.”

“I want to be enfolded by him somehow, and to possess him. To have unfettered and exclusive access to him all the time. To feel how I feel around him all the time. To know that he loves being around me too. To feel more of his skin on my skin.”

“You’re very passionate about your unhappiness aren’t you, Chris?’ I responded with, “If it’s worth doing, it’s worth doing well.”

“She’s-big-she’s-blond-she-works-in-deli Georgia”

“Harvey out.PS I have puny shoulders.PPS And I’m okay with that.PPPS I’m not really.”

“Oh, well. Love is pain. Or is it beauty is pain? I wouldn't know about the latter, but the former makes my sternum ache.”

“I can't run my own race. I'm constantly checking what's happening in the other lanes.”

“I wonder briefly if I could somehow broker a deal with God whereby if I put both my arms around Chris, his suffering would be transferred to me via skin-to-skin osmosis at a rate inversely proportionate to how much I love him.”

“She even takes the goings-on of fictitious characters personally.”

“I don't watch scary movies. I mean it. Not ever. They make me scared. Scared of being alone in the house. Scared of being alone upstairs at night. Scared of walking home from work in the dark.”