“Q and Beanpole and I giggled at the way our math teacher, Mr. Sung-Li, wore four pencils in his shirt pocket in case he was suddenly attacked by a multiplication problem or something.”

“After I took two pees- 'cause the news of this mandatory dress rehearsal was way too big of a nuclear bomb to just take one- we made plans to meet by the Fountain before the dress rehearsal began to get our act together.”

“Cashier: Yes, can I help you?Tee-Ay: Yeah, I need a rattle.Cashier: Aisle eight.Tee-Ay: I'm looking for the kind that'll give a fatherless black baby a future, you got any of those?Cashier: Girl, if we sold those, do you think I'd be workin' here?”

“Put it on channel eight- I wanna watch ESPN!"Shove it up your a** with a flaming hot jalepeno pepper, Teddy!”

“Rejections are thin 'cause they really have nothing to say other than, "Sorry, dude, you're screwed." acceptances are thick 'cause they have lots of stuff to say like, "Welcome, dude, you're not screwed, we want you.”

“What time is it?""Time?""Time.""Oh," She said. "A quarter to four. Mr. Markham, something terrible has happened."She didn't have to tell me that. Something perfectly dreadful had happened, by God. Someone had called me in the middle of the bloody night.”

“Your mother stands against everything my parents believe in," I say. "But I'm not my parents.""Aria," Hunter whispers into my ear."Yes?""Just kiss me."We press our lips together gentle, and it's like I am alive, on fire, like I can do anything in the world. I know this because he's a mystic, but there's something more familiar, something safe and sexy and irresistible about the way his lips feel, his tongue brushing lightly against mine. Our passion is like what's described in my love letters: it's like coming home, finally, when I never even knew I'd been away.”