“Every strong swimmer has a story about nearly drowning.”

“I know what you're thinking.Girlfriend has fallen out of the stoopid tree and bonked her head against every branch on the way down.”

“You think it hurts your feelings that girls talk about you behind your back, until they tell you to your face. And they each wanted a turn. Every time, it started with 'girlfriend' and ended with 'bitch.”

“When every other facet of my life was a mess, music stayed true as math.”

“You’ve gone far away to a place with no horses and very little grass, and you’re studying how to write a story with a happy ending. If you can write that ending for yourself, maybe you can come back.”

“His dark eyes challenged me. They were weapons that could hurt me. Here was the worst thing about them: I could tell that if Johnafter loved you, his dark eyes would be beautiful and friendly and warm. So every time he cut me down with a look that was cold and unfriendly and ugly, it was a double insult, a reminder of what I could never have. I found myself avoiding his dark eyes when I could.”

“All right," I said. "But from now on, every time you show me a dead body, I'm having sex with Eric.”