“One of us will just have to stay at the cottage to keep an eye on her.' [...]Let's see if Widow Hazel wouldn't take her in during the day, maybe teach her something useful -'No, remember when she learned how to knit? Now we're stuck wearing these dreadful hats.'Not so loud! She'll hear you.'In a lower voice one of the dwarfs said, 'H.A.T.S.'Apparently Snow White didn't know how to knit or to spell.”

“Let me guess - you're Grumpy?'He let out a humpf. ' And you would be too, if you'd just spent the last hour searching the forest for your wayward charge.' He walked even faster. 'We tell you to stay inside, we tell you not to talk to strangers. But oh no, you must be out singing to the animals as if the birds didn't do a fine enough job of it. And this after Queen Neferia has already tried to kill you thrice. [...] Which is why you are not to go shopping anymore, no matter how pretty the wares, remember?'Oh, right.' [...] when you looked at it that way, Snow White had to be pretty idiotic to keep falling for the same trick.”

“So who told you that you had a chip on your shoulder?""Never mind." I shoved a piece of lasagna int my mouth so I couldn't answer."It was a cute guy, wasn't it?" Kelly said. "Those types pf statements only bother you if cute guys say them."I didn't answer, and I didn't look at them."Must have been a really cute guy." Aleeta said.Kelly leaned forward. "Who was it, and do you like him?"I took another bite of lasagna."She likes him." Aleeta said with a smile."Ryan Geno?" Kelly asked. "Arnold Carrillo?""Colton Taft." Aleeta said as though sure she was right.Kelly nodded. "Which means we're really talking about Bryant, aren't we?"Aleeta leaned closer to the table and lowered her voice. "Charlotte likes Bryant?""No," I said quickly."No," Kelly repeated, "She doesn't like him, which is why Colton thinks she has a chip on her shoulder." She turned to me then, wearing a triumphant smile. "I'm right, aren't I?"I shuffled pieces of lasagna around my plate. "I should stop hanging out with smart people.”

“So what did you want to talk to Wesley about?" he asked me."Kelly likes him," I said. "So I figured while we were discussing Lady Macbeth's insanity and Duncan's murder, I could, you know, casually find out if he likes her too."Colton didn't blink. "He likes her.""He does? How do you know?"He shrugged like it was a silly question. "We talk sometimes. He told me on the drive over he hoped she would be here.""Then why hasn't he ever asked her out?""He's shy. And we're in the middle of wrestling season, midterms, and Christmas." Colton picked up the liter of soda. "Have a little patience."I reached for the bowl of popcorn, but didn't start out of the kitchen yet. "Well can I hurry him along? Is there any chance he'll ask her out before this weekend?"Colton shook his head at me, then walked toward the living room. "You're not quite grasping the nature of patience, Charlotte.”

“I bet you Cinderella didn't get along with Prince Charming's friends. Oh sure, the knights and barons probably put up with her on account that she was pretty and had such dainty feet and all, but you should know every duchess and contess in the kingdom hated her guts.”

“...and her dreams that didn't happen, that couldn't have happened because she'd pinned them on somebody too broken and unattainable to love her back.”

“But that's how life is. You never know how it's going to turn out, and you can't plan for everything. You just have to do your best dealing with things as they come and hope people forgive you when you make a mistake.”