“He thinks about it for a moment. "All right. I'll go firts"He takes a deep breath.Do you know what a bidet is? One of those fancy toilet things with the hose to was your-"I know what it is," I cut him off.Well. I didn't. At least I didn't when I was ten. We were on vacation in New York when we got to the room, I went into the bathroom and saw it there. And I just stared at it for a while trying to figure out what it might be."This isn't going to end well, is it?"Finally, I did figure it out. Or at least I thought I did."You didn't!"Oh, yes I did. I called out, 'Mon, Dad, there's a water fountain in the bathroom.' They tried to rush in and stop me, but they were too late."....This spring I took the SAT at the comunity college. About halfway through the test, I adjusted the way I was sitting and-"He cuts me off. "Oh, my God. You're Fart Girl!"Fart Girl?" I say, mortified. "You mean, you heard about what happened?"He started laughing. "I didn't hear about it. I heard it. I was there, in the same classroom. I didn't know who did it, but I definately heard it." He laughs some more. "The whole section was cracking up.”

“Wherever I go the music playing is always something I like. I never hear music I hate.""If you never hear it, how do you know what music you don't like?" I asked, not sure if I'd made any sense. It was spinny trying to figure it out. Didn't you know what you liked in contrast to what you didn't? But if he only heard music he liked, he'd never have any contrast. Did that mean he liked everything?”

“He tried to press the machine into my hands, but I stepped back. He was getting too close, and besides, I didn't know what this meant. Was he trying to sell me the machine? Was he giving it to me? I had heard that in America, if a girl accepted a ring from a boy, it meant she would marry him. What about accepting a tape-playing machine? Did it mean I might have to dance with him?”

“Yesterday, when you said you told everyone, what did you mean?""Everyone important, I guess. I mean, I didn't rush out to inform my mailman or anything.""Oh, he knows," Nate said offhandedly."Oh. Okay," I said, thrown. "Well, I guess I can cross him off the list.”

“Travis walked in and shut the door behind him. “I was mad. I heard you spitting out everything that’s wrong with me to America and it pissed me off. I just meant to go out and have a few drinks and try to figure some things out, but before I knew it, I was piss drunk and those girls…,” he paused. “I woke up this morning and you weren’t in bed, and when I found you on the recliner and saw the wrappers on the floor, I felt sick.”“You could have just asked me instead of spending all that money at the grocery store just to bribe me to stay.”“I don’t care about the money, Pidge. I was afraid you’d leave and never speak to me again.”

“No,” I said, raising my voice to be heard over the piano chords. “I didn't lie to you, Puck. I meant what I said—at least, I did back then. But it's not the same as what I feel for Ash, you knew that.”“Did I?” Puck's voice was ugly. “Maybe I did, but you sure led me on a merry chase, princess. Just like a pro. When were you going to tell me I didn't have a cold chance in hell?”

“There's a girl, Dad."He smiled a bit. "A girl.""She kinda hates me, and I kinda...""Love her?""I don't know. I don't think so. I mean...how do you know?"His smile grew wider. "When you're talking about her with your old dad because you don't know what else to do.”