“I cursed myself not only for forgetting to turn my phone off but for ever thinking that having a rock music ringtone was cool.”

“He only invited me because of you and Chase.''Right,' she said, following me inside. 'He's never shown the slightest interest in you before. I mean, he's never stared at you like you're the only person in the room when we're all together. Or sulked around for days because you turned him down for a dance. Or touched the sleeve of your sweater when he thinks no one's looking-''He's never done any of that,' I said. Then, less confidently, 'Has he?”

“I want a tutor,” Layla said. “It would make doing homework so much easier.”“Me too,” said Kaitlyn. “If Layla gets one, I get one.”“No daughter of mine will ever have a tutor,” Dad said.“What if we’re failing a course?” asked Layla.His graying eyebrows drew together. “If you fail a single course, young lady, we will pull you out of school and get you a job scrubbing toilets for the rest of your life.”

“He can’t ground her if he’s already killed her,” I pointed out when Juliana quoted this to me. “Well, he can, but it wouldn’t have the same impact.”

“You wouldn't think the touch of someone's hand could blow your mind. It's nothing, right? People don't right songs and poems about holding hands - they write them about kisses and sex and eternal love. I mean, when you're a little kid you hold hands with your parents to cross the street. Who's going to write an ode to that?We were alone in the dark, even though the enormous theater was filled with probably a thousand people. We were a tiny island in a sea of other people who didn't matter, who had no meaning, who were so stupid, so oblivious, so stuck in their own boring lives that they didn't even notice the huge, momentous, life-shattering event that was taking place right there in row L, between seats 102 and 104.Derek Edwards was holding my hand.”

“I was isolated but not ostracized, ignored but not abused.”

“..."And then we played Ping-Pong—”“Not pool? I always assumed he was a billiards man—I mean, it’s so handy the way he keeps a stick up his—”