“And why was it that some guys had tears in them and some had no tears at all? Different boys lived by different rules.”

“I had a rule that it was better to be bored by yourself than to be bored with someone else. I pretty much lived by that rule. Maybe that's why I didn't have any friends.”

“I loved the different rules of summer.”

“Some boys... Are perfect shits. & other boys are very, very beautiful.”

“Why did I have to be a good boy just because I had a bad-boy brother? I hated the way my mom and dad did family math.”

“Words were different when they lived inside of you.”

“But the thing is that I’m in love with Rafael’s story. I think I understand when Adam says that all our stories are different but in some ways our stories are all the same. I never really got that. But when I start to read Rafael’s journal, it’s as if I can see myself. It’s better than a mirror.”