“The idea of getting high on someone else's dime sounded like the right and necessary medicine.”

“We should make up our own phrase," I suggested. "Add our own contribution to nautical lore."Cal thought about it for a while and then said, "How about, the starboard sea?""What?" I asked. "Like the sea on the right side of the boat? That doesn't mean anything.""No," Cal insisted, "it means the right sea, the true sea, or like finding the best path in life. It's deep. I'm telling you, it's going to catch on. By this time next year, everyone will be using it.”

“I slept well that night because someone had been kind to me.”

“To be with someone who is stronger than you. To have him relinquish his strength.”

“I was surprised," I said, "to find someone here with you. I'd rather you existed only when I was around.”

“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.”

“Even in all that darkness I could see her beauty. Still, I couldn't claim it for myself. Instead, I decided to hurt her."You loved someone," I said, "who was completely inappropriate.”