Michelle Madow

“Judging from the unfamiliar number, I assumed the text came from Shannon. If not, I would see who came by my house at 4:30 and go with it. Maybe it would be Mr. Darcy coming to pick me up in an extravagant horse-drawn carriage, but I couldn’t picture Mr. Darcy using a cell phone.”

“The first time Mr. Darcy asked Lizzy to marry him in Pride and Prejudice, he went about it all wrong,” I started, smiling at the connection I’d just made in my mind. “He insulted her and herfamily. But after her refusal, he made a conscious effort to change for the better, and everything worked out for them the second time he proposed. It’s the same with us. You learned from your past mistakes, and everything’s different now. Just as Lizzy gave Mr. Darcy a second chance, I’m going to do the same for you.”“I’m glad that Lizzy gave Mr. Darcy a second chance.” He smiled at the comparison. “She was the only one for him. He would have been miserable without her.”“And she would have been miserable without him.” I laughed. “Even though she might not have admitted it.”

“It would have been so easy to believe every word he said and drive off with him into the moonlight like a scene from a fairy tale. But I wasn’t meant for happily ever after in my past life, and it was starting to seem like this one wouldn’t be any different.”

“Feeling like I had to lose you for the second time...” He shook his head, and I thought I saw tears under his eyes. “I don’t think I could bear it. You’re everything to me, Elizabeth.”

“All I could think about while driving after you was how it was about to happen all over again and that I would never be able to feel your warm skin under my hands or look into your beautiful blue eyes, or tell you how much I love you.”

“There was no evidence I could do anything to change destiny, but I owed it to myself to try.”

“Whatever problems we had back then don’t exist anymore. It’s why we have this second chance, and we can’t throw it away. Besides, you were the one who said we’re not exactly the same as we were back then. If we’re not the same, then things can turn out differently.”

“I want you,” Drew said. “Just you. I used to go through every day without thinking about the future, but with you all I can see are the possibilities of the experiences we could have together.”

“Last Friday in the music room, every word I said felt like I was taking a knife to my own skin, cutting so deep that I thought I would never know how to not feel pain again,” he said, his voice remarkably calm for such a strong statement. “The worst of it was knowing that in fighting us being together, I was still causing you pain. I can’t do it anymore.” He stood still, focused intensely on me. “Do you believe that we have the ability to change destiny?”

“Do you believe that we have the ability to change destiny?”

“Have you ever met someone and felt like you’ve known them forever?”

“You’re everything to me—you always have been, and you always will be. Always and forever.”

“After the other day at the playground, I wasn’t sure if you would want to talk to me or not,' Drew said, his eyes serious. 'What made you change your mind?''You were throwing pinecones at my door.' I laughed at how ridiculous it sounded. 'I should be irritated at you, but it was kind of cute.”

“Our connection was like a hidden force pulling us towards one another, and resisting it took a strength that I didn’t know I could keep up for much longer.”

“Ever since the first day I’d seen Drew, none of my thoughts made sense. My entire world had turned upside-down, and I had no explanation why.”

“It was like trying to recall a forgotten dream—each time I felt close to remembering where we’d met, the memories slipped away.”

“My feelings for Drew couldn't just disappear. They were ingrained within every fiber of my being, and I needed them just the same as I needed air to breathe.”

“I loved looking at the stars—they put in perspective how small I was compared to the Universe. Each of those hundreds of billions of stars was its own sun. It could have its own solar system of planets orbiting around it, and some of those planets could even contain life. The vastness of possibilities in space reminded me that while my life felt important, it was tiny in the scheme of things. Human civilization was only a blink on the radar of time. Did anyone else have these moments of amazement over the existence of humanity, when they are in awe of how they are here, and alive, even if it’s only for a short while?”

“The vastness of possibilities in space reminded me that while my life felt important, it was tiny in the scheme of things. Human civilization was only a blink on the radar of time.”

“I just hope we don’t cause a major paradox.”

“Sometimes there are still days when I wake up and wonder if this has actually happened, or if it’s been one long dream.”

“You’re coming to England no matter what, even without your mom’s permission. I’ll buy you the plane ticket myself.”

“Why was it that when you were looking forward to a specific day, it took forever to arrive, but when you were dreading a day, it was there immediately?”

“Soul mates, I've always believed in, so I accepted the truth there. But curses? That was extreme. There had to be a place where the line was drawn between fiction and reality, and a curse sounded way more on the fiction side of the spectrum.”

“But life wasn't a fairy tale, and I had no problem doing what was necessary to get what I wanted, even if it meant playing dirty.”

“Everyone might think Lizzie's an angel, but I knew better. She was selfish, and she was going to pay.”

“Jeremy seemed happy to move up in the world, if "the world" meant high school and "moving up" meant sitting in the center of the cafeteria.”

“Did anyone else have these moments of amazement over the existence of humanity, when they are in awe of how they are here, and alive, even if it's only for a short while?”

“Are you saying that we can affect what happened in the past? That we can change it?”

“I wanted it more than enough. I wanted it with every fiber of my being, and I had the power to make it happen - to make it so I was the one Drew wanted, not Lizzie”

“But it was time to realize that I wasn't Cinderella, and no matter how hard I wished it were true, life wasn't a fairy tale where everyone lives happily ever after.”

“It [soccer] would be much more interesting if every so often, the ball spontaneously exploded.”

“Music is powerful; it transforms emotions and experiences into something tangible.”

“What we have is strong enough to transcend time. I've never trusted anything more in my life.”