“Hey. Not sure what’s going on-gonna go find out. Be careful and don’t do anything stupid. Don’t come after me-your better on your own. See you. FI sat on the edge of the bed, holding the note.Okay, so Fang had looked up vague in the dictionary and this was what it had said to write.”

“In school, they would tell you that life wouldn’t come to you; you had to go out and make it your own. But when it came to love, the message for girls seemed to be this: Don’t. Don’t go after what you want. Wait. Wait to be chosen, as if only in the eye of another could one truly find value. The message was confusing and infuriating. It was a shell game with no actual pea under the rapidly moving cups.”

“One thing that struck me early is that you don’t put into a photograph what’s going to come out. Or, vice versa, what comes out is not what you put in.”

“You’re strong enough to stand up to anyone. Smart enough to do anything you want. Don’t sell yourselfshort; don’t be afraid of what your new life is going to offer. Because I know—if there’s any justice in thisworld, good things are going to come to you. Better things than you ever dreamed.”

“The details are the life of it, I insist, say everything on your mind, don’t hold back, don’t analyze or anything as you go along, say it out.”

“Michael!” Oliver’s voice came faint through the front door. “Something you should see, my boy! Look out your windows!”“Trap,” Shane said instantly, and reached out to grab Michael’s arm as he walked by. “Don’t, man.”“What’s he going to do? Make faces at me?”