“So I did, and after that day she took the world off my chest, lifted it so I could breathe.”

“What sort of party is this?" Lucy asks, staring at a group of guys who look like they walked off the set of Prison Break."The fun kind," Leo says. "Go have some. We'll find you after I talk to my brother.""The fun kind?" Lucy shouts to Jazz. "I'm pretty sure I saw that guy over there on 'Crime Stoppers' last week." She's right. She did.”

“I told her yeah, but there was no skin on my voice and she heard the bones in my words like I did. And I knew.”

“What's up with you?" "I'm grounded," I say, just to say something real. "I told Mum to fuck off." He whistles. "Why'd you tell her that? Any other 'off' leaves room for parole. 'Sod off,' 'shove off'—even 'sock off' is still pretty satisfying." "You've told your dad to sock off?" "Once. He said, 'What the fuck is "sock off"? Be a man and tell me to fuck off.'" "So did you tell him?" "No. Because that was the trap. There's never time out for good behavior with 'fuck off.”

“He looks so stupid that it cancels out mystupid so I give in and ride and he runsand gets on the bike after only two tries.”

“A psychic friend could come in very handy." I reshuffled my cards."I predict I will," she said.”

“I spent the weekend after our date wishing I could stab him with my fluffy-duck pen and staring at the phone hoping he'd call. Dating is a very tricky business.”