“He looked up, past her, at the bedroom. Finally, a break to the white - but this wasn't much better. Pink carpeting, princess border along the ceiling, white walls, and a gold canopy bed."What," he said, "no Barbie dream castle?"Layne flushed. "Shut up.”

“Hey, little brother.” Gabriel came back through the door and flopped on the bed, drawing his legs up to sit against the wall. “Girls are more likely to stay if you don’t fight with them.”

“He half rose from his seat and reached across another student’s desk to drop the mangled paper clip in front of Tommy.“Look, dude,” he said, his voice low and earnest. “You want to ask me out, you man up and do it proper.”

“Look. Chris.” She dropped onto the bench again and gripped the edge of the table. “I’m not going to sleep with you,” she whispered fiercely, feeling her cheeks flush. “I’m not going to mess around with you under the bleachers. I don’t give hand jobs in the men’s room, or—““Wow. You like to get all this out of the way up front, huh?”

“Not special at all.” She changed her mind and leaned in to take a cookie. “I just heard my number called and thought I’d better show up.”

“Casper, she said someone has to hold your leash.”The dog barked.Then he dipped his head, picked up the end of the leash in his mouth, and trotted after his master.”

“It means my luck sucks," she said. "It was nice dating a guy wo treated me like a friend instead of a blow-up doll.""You were the one trying to unzip my pants in the truck!""Yeah, well, I thought you weren't interested. I didn't realize that your divining rod just pointed into a different direction.""You're killing me," he said. But it sounded like he was smiling.”