“The toes of our ratty black sneakers touched.”

“It was crazy how a hearse and a pair of sneakers could cheer a guy up.”

“It was always that way when we touched - a gentle jolt of electricity that intensified with our every touch.”

“Mortals. Everything is so black and white to you.”

“She was wearing a purple T-shirt, with a skinny black dress over it that made you remember how much of a girl she was, and trashed black boots that made you forget.”

“I needed to touch her, like I needed to breathe.”

“It wasn't about how she looked, which was pretty, even though she was always wearing the wrong clothes and those beat-up sneakers. It wasn't about what she said in class--usually something no one else would've thought of, and if they had, something they wouldn't have dared to say. It wasn't that she was different from all the other girls at Jackson. That was obvious. It was that she made me realize how much I was just like the rest of them, even if I wanted to pretend I wasn't.”