“That night on the Swan we'd promised each other that we'd have some sort of romance. Something unprecedented. "We don't have to be like other people," she'd said, and I'd believed her.”

“Don't you miss it?" I'd ask Aidan. "All that Hollywood sunshine?""It's like hating the color yellow," she'd say, "and living in a golden age.”

“When you've done something terrible, something you regret, it gives you this special insight, like you can detect other people's bad behavior.”

“It was scary having that sort of power over a girl. You could hurt her in ways you might never understand.”

“I'd like to be a light meter.""A what?""A light meter. Like a photographer uses. Tinks had one this morning." Aidan snapped an imaginary photo of me. "I'd like to be able to measure and know for certain whether people were giving off light or taking light away.""You're strange," I said. "But I think I like that about you.”

“Jason, as much as I'd like to believe that we're friends, I know I can't count on you.”

“I'd used the word "beautiful" to describe another boy. I knew how it must have sounded to her. I also knew that it was exactly what I'd meant, exactly what I did not want to mean.”