“She was wired into my heart. Twisted and kinked and threaded right through.”

“I didn’t want to care, but somehow, like always, I did. She was wired into my heart. Twisted and kinked and threaded right through.”

“For a long time, all the way through to the end of elementary school, Beans was my only friend. Because that’s how I’ve always been. I only need one good friend to see me through. Most people aren’t like that. Most people are always looking out for more people to know. In the end, Beans was like most people. After a while she had dozens of friends, and by fifth grade it was pretty obvious that even though she was my best friend, I wasn’t hers.”

“There are dark black buttons tattooed on my heart. I’ll carry them for the rest of my days.”

“I had no idea how greedy my heart really was.”

“I was in a place where nobody knew my heart even a little bit.”

“Toby was right. Finn was my first love. But Toby, he was my second. And the sadness in that stretched like a thin cold river down the length of my whole life.”