“There are times in life when I guess you just needed to face facts, and I think that moment was one of those times. I needed to know who and what I was, not just to Acadia, but also to Leif, and myself most of all.”

“I had never walked anywhere with a boy holding hands. It always looked so silly when I watched other people doing it, walking down the halls of the school or around town, but I finally got it. It's a shared moment of quiet intimacy. It's not blatant or showy. It's just, well, lovely.”

“I stepped in front of my closet to decide what to wear. Unless you are a sixteen, almost seventeen, year old girl, you just can’t realize what a difficult task that is.”

“I was sixteen, not three. I was old enough to make my own decisions. Try explaining that to my mom, though.”

“I'm counting on that," Mila murmurs as she steps away. "I just need some time Pax; time for you to show that you are serious about this, about putting the work in. That's all I need.”

“Nothing like hearing you look like crap along with feeling like it.”

“I really have to be watching my back all the time; always be on the defensive? Trusting no one but myself was a cold cross to bear, but at that moment, I wore it.”