“Saying something aloud, anything coming from my heart was more than acknowledging it; it was owning it. I needed to hear the words come out of my mouth – to stain the air with my feelings.”– Fake Perfect Me.”

“The perfect quote sprang to mind, but I resisted saying it under my breath, since Jonathan would hear. I couldn’t even mouth the words, since for all I knew, he’d hear my lips moving. So I conjured up a vision of the Tin Man and let him say it for me in my head. “Now I know I’ve got a heart. I can feel it breaking.”

“My little brother is in rehab.My little brother is in rehab.I feel like these words are written on my arms whenever I push up my sleeves, written on my cheeks whenever they relax out of my fake smile. They want to come out of my mouth, all the time. When I am called upon in class, or when someone says, "Hey, what's up?" - that's what I want to answer. "My little brother's in rehab." But I never do.”

“I open my mouth. I want o say: I'm breaking, and i need someone to hold me together.But no sound comes out.”

“When I fake smile the corners of my mouth twitch from tiredness, then nervousness, as I wonder if anybody can see my mouth quivering and figure out that I’m faking my friendliness.”

“Taryn Mitchell," he said, looking me in the eyes. "I love you. With all my heart."I felt all the blood rush from my body and surge right into my chest. All this time I waited for a man to say those words to me and mean it, and now I was hearing them from the one person I had hoped would say them. I gazed into his eyes and said what was in my heart. It was as easy and natural as breathing. "I love you too - more than anything in this world.”