Malorie Blackman

“I wish... I wish he wasn't quite so ashamed of me. And if he could stop feeling so ashamed of himself, then maybe we might stand a chance.”

“Even if we had gone away together when I wanted us to, we would've been together for a year, maybe two. But sooner or later, other people would've found a way to wedge us apart.”

“Lynny's solution was better. Just fade out, until you were ready to fade back in.”

“But remember this if nothing else: I love you more than there are words or stars. I love you more than there are thoughts and feelings. I love you more than there are seconds or moments gone or to come. I love you.”

“You have the same smile, the same shaped eyes, the same way of tilting your head to listen, the same stubborn streak, the same common sense. Lots of things about you and him are the same.”

“People are people. We'll always find a way to mess up, doesn't matter who's in charge.”

“And things go unsaid soon get forgotten”

“So why did you want to kiss me?""We're friends aren't we?" Callum shrugged.I relaxed into a smile. "Of course we are.""And if you can't kiss your friends who can you kiss?" Callum smiled.”

“Boys don't cry, but men do.”

“He loved to draw. Animals pouncing mostly. And trees. Always lone trees in black landscapes.”

“He thought astrology was a load of bosh! Didn't believe in stars and planets telling his fortune or anyone else's.”

“How dare you both sit there and criticize and condemn me?”

“Because my mum and dad brought me up to believe that people are different but equal. And that I should treat everyone, no matter who, with the same respect I'd like to be shown.”

“My rear end was blood-raw from my so called brilliant ideas rebounding on me.”

“One of us...One of them...One of us...One of them...A rhythm playing like train wheels on a circular track -- never ending but going nowhere.”

“When did we stop being people, being human?”

“I suppose it doesn't occur to you that I can think the system just as unjust as you do.”

“Never, ever allow yourself to feel. Feelings kill.”

“Jude's fourth law: Caring equals vulnerability. Never show either.”

“Jude's rule number five: Never get to close to anyone or anything that you can't walk away at a moment's notice if you have to.When you have to.”

“And just like that, I'd been assessed and judged. Nurse Fashoda didn't know the first thing about me but she'd taken one look at my face and now she reckoned she knew my whole life story -- what had gone before and what was yet to come.”

“The media called us ruthless terrorists. We're not. We're just fighting for what's right. Being born a nought shouldn't automatically slam shut myriad doors before you've even drawn your first breath.”

“For once I didn't look away immediately. I forced myself to meet her contemptuous gaze. I allowed myself be swept away by it, to drown in it - the way I'd done so many times before. The way I would willingly do again. Because at least she was here to hate me. At least I had that. I watched my daughter conjure up the filthiest look in her vast arsenal before she turned away with complete disdain. I didn't mind that so much. It meant I could watch her, drink her in without her protest. Look at our daughter, Callum. Isn't she beautiful, so very beautiful? She laughs like me, but when she smiles... Oh Callum, when she smiles, it's picnics in Celebration Park and sunsets on our beach and our very first kiss all over again. When Callie Rose smiles at me, she lights up my life.When Callie Rose smiles at me.”

“You remind me of a boy I used to knowSame Smile, same easy, laid-back styleAnd man, could he kissBlew my mind the very first timeHis lips touched mine.You remind me You remind me of a boy I used to like.Same eyes, strong arms, same open mindAnd man, could he danceArms around me, lost in a tranceI'd hear his heartYou remind meI'm scared of youHow did you find me?Turn and walk away'Cause you remind meYou remind me of a boy I used to loveSame laughter and tears, shared through the years And man, how he feltMade my bones more than meltHe touched my soul.You remind meI'm scared of youHow did you find me?Turn and walk away'Cause you remind me”

“Did you love Melanie?" asked Adam unexpectedly. There was no pause before I shook my head."That's a shame," said Adam."Why?""Well, someone as special as your daughter should've been... made with love.”

“Five years off my life...I wondered with a wry smile, would people be immortal if they didn't have kids?”

“Sometimes the things you're convinced you don't want turn out to be the thing you need the most in this world.”

“The truth isn't going to bend itself to suit you.”

“A backup plan means somewhere in my head, I think I might fail and that word is not in my vocabulary. Plus I'm too talented to fail.”

“The point is, you have family and friends who love you. You have a world out there just waiting for you to conquer it. You have a life that will be anything you make it. That's the point.”

“And round and round and round. Why couldn't I get past the letter? Like poison id had seeped into every image and every memory I kept of Callum, polluting them until I couldn't tell which was real and what was just wishful thinking any more. Until at last, I was forced to face the inescapable fact that, for whatever reason, Callum had written the letter.”

“Dear God, please let him have heard me. Please.Please.If you're up there.Somewhere.”

“Love was like an avalanche, with Sephy and I hand-in-hand racing like hell to get out of it's way-only, instead of running away from it, we kept running straight towards it.”

“You're a Nought and I'm a Cross and there's nowhere for us to be, nowhere for us to go where we'd be left in peace...That's why I started crying. That's why I couldn't stop. For all the things we might've had and all the things we're never going to have.”

“I pulled him closer to me, wrapping my arms around him, kissing him just as desperately as he was kissing me. Like if we could just love long enough and hard enough and deep enough, then the world outside would never, could never hurt us.”

“He pulls the hood over my head. I try to pull back. I'm not trying to run away. I just want to see her... One last time...”

“D'you ever wonder what it would be like if our positions were reversed?' I ask. At Jack's puzzled look I continue. 'If we whites were in charge instead of you Crosses?''Can't say it's ever crossed my mind,' Jack shrugs.'I used to think about it a lot,' I sigh. 'Dreams of living in a world with no more discrimination, no more prejudice, a fair police force, an equal justice system, equality of education, equality of life, a level playing field...”

“I used to comfort myself with the belief that it was only certain individuals and their peculiar notions that spoilt things for the rest of us. But how many individuals does it take before it's not the individuals who are prejudiced but society itself?”

“Why was it that when noughts committed criminal acts, the fact that they were noughts was always pointed out? The banker was a Cross. The newsreader didn't even mention it.”

“Who did it, Sephy?' She repeated. 'Who beat you up? 'Cause whoever it was, I'll kill them.”

“The news lies all the time. They tell us what they think we would want to hear.”

“But the Good Book said a lot of things. Like 'love thy neighbor' and ' do unto others as you would have them do unto you'. If nothing else, wasn't the message of the Good Book to live and let live? So how could the Crosses call themselves 'God's chosen' and still treat us the way they did?”

“Mrs Bawden yanked me away from the table and dragged me across the food hall. I tried to twist away from her, but she had a grip like a python on steroids.”

“I hadn't fully realized just how powerful words could be before this. Whoever came up with the saying 'sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never hurt me' was talking out of his or her armpit.”

“Don't you know that boys don't cry?' Adam grinned. 'Shall I tell you something I've only recently discovered,' I replied, not attempting to hide the tears rolling down my face and not the least bit ashamed of them. 'Boys don't cry, but real men do.”

“Just remember, Callum when you’re floating up and up in your bubble, that bubbles have a habit of bursting. The higher you climb, the further you have to fall.”

“That just the way it is. Some things will never change. That's just the way it is. But don't you believe them.”

“She stays lost in the middle of her own world somewhere. We can’t get in and she doesn’t come out. Not often anyway, and certainly not for any length of time. But her mind takes her to somewhere kind, I think, to judge by the peaceful, serene look on her face most of the time. ”