“Sneetches" was what we called the in-crowd at school, the haves as opposed to the have-nots. We named them from a Dr. Suess story in which the Star-Belly Sneetches, who were born with a green star on their bellies, thought they were better than all those who had no green star- or in this case green money.”

“Now, the Star-Belly Sneetches had bellies with stars. The Plain-Belly Sneetches had none upon thars.”

“His dark hair was thick and looked so soft I had to resist the urge to touch it. Looking into his dark eyes was like falling into the stars, making me feel weightless and disoriented.”

“He smiled and it was beautiful and horrible what I saw in it. Hope that should not be born and desire that could never bear fruit. Whether they were my feelings or his, I did not know.”

“I just called to tell you good night. Get some sleep, Theia. Tomorrow is a big day.”“I would sleep much better if you were here.” As soon as the words spilled out of my mouth,I wanted to die of embarrassment. Haden and I were close, but we hadn’t gotten that close yet. “I mean . . . it’s just that when you’re near I’m not as agitated. Not that I want to sleep with you.” I needed to stop talking—I was making it worse.“You don’t?” He was teasing now. “Now you’ve hurt my male pride.”

“As a young girl I thought, with fervent hope, that ten years was some kind of magic formula. That if I were seventeen instead of seven, I would know how to handle myself better in a situation. That a passing decade would fill in all the cracks where I ached, by adding wisdom or, at the very least, understanding.”

“Layney - "I hear they sell them at Evil ’R Us. You have an accountthere, don’t you? Maybe you can pick one up on the ‘stillbeating/just pulled from a sacrifice’ aisle.”Jimmy - “Do you have any idea how expensive those are? Even withmy discount.”