“I only assumed those dresses were costumes, based on the garish nature of the plumage.”

“I watched the way they looked at each other. Any idiot could see they were in love, even if they were the only two idiots who couldn't.”

“The ways I could hurt her and hurt myself. Those two things were intertwined somehow. It's hard to explain, but when you were as closed off as I was the past few months, opening felt as wrong as stripping naked in church.”

“Those were the 'ifs' that kept me from making a fool of myself.”

“I may have been a Wayward, but my way was full of people who loved me. They were the only way I knew”

“I really was alone, and the only thing worse than being alone was having everyone else see how lonely you were”

“A little known fact: I read all the time. books were the one thing that got me out of Gatlin, even if it was only for a little while.”