“And I can't believe you didn't tell me you were all goo-goo eyed over my dad. Oh, and that you failed to mention you were sleeping with him”

“He's my best friend. We were catching up. I just told him that I forgive him for sleeping with my dad for the last four years and that I'm sleeping with my cousin's boyfriend.”

“I thought for sure you were going straight to hell.”

“She shrugged and flipped her glossy hair behind her shoulders. "What else do you have to do with your time besides think about stuff like this? It's not like you're real heavy into extracurriculars. Besides, you're all, like, goth and into the dead, right?"Alona Dare, queen of the insult-compliment. "Wow. Thanks. Anyone ever tell you you're good with people?"She frowned. "No.""Good. I'm not goth.""Your hair is black, you have piercings, you wear black all the time and act all freaky-""My hair is naturally this color. I have three earings in one ear, that's it. This shirt" -I tugged at the fabric across my chest- "is navy blue, and if I act weird all the time, it's because of ghosts like you.”

“No. Ben, I love you because you're you. All of you, not just the quirky stuff.”

“Would Alona be gone before I even got a chance to say good-bye? A real good-bye? One last kiss and the chance to tell her that she’d made my life better even as she’d made me crazy? That we were better together than I would ever be by myself, but that because of her, I would be okay? Not great, but okay, and I owed that all to her? No. I needed to see her one last time.”

“I know who you are, no matter what you look like,” he said quietly, surprising me.”