“Did he judge on appearance alone? would he judge me? "Goth" doesn't cut it when it comes to a word that describes me. I'm complex. Complicated. No one gets me, and I like it that way.”

“Friendship is a choice. more to the point, it is a series of ongoing choices, with consequences for each person. ”

“I haven’t had time,” I said, exasperated. “As soon as I remembered, I came straight here.” Ryan turned to face me before clicking on the results. Ididn’t like the way he was suddenly looking very suspiciously at me. “You were really upset…” he prompted, but I didn’t know what he wanted me tosay.“Your point?”“My point is, when you freaked out you came straight to me for help. That is the most girlfriendy thing ever. I don’t know why you won’t just acceptwhat you are.”

“If one day I was taken away...would you wait for me to come back?"Concerned moved across his face. "Where are you going?""Just tell me, please. I need to know, without telling you anything else.""No."I swallowed and blinked back tears."I'd go after you," he said.”

“Do you have a name I asked?" I asked."Yes." He stared back at me, blinking."What is it?""Clover." He looked away and typed something into the computer. His mouth kept twitching, like he was trying to hold in laughter."Seriously?"He pushed his sleeve up, giving me a view of a blue clover tattooed on his forearm. "I'm half Irish."And half shithead.”

“Aghhh! You don’t get it! I have to resist! No kiss, no matter how good it is, is worth killing you for. I’ve already lost one boyfriend. I am not going tolose another one! Do you understand me?” Ryan didn’t answer my question, but he was positively glowing. “You just called me your boyfriend!” heaccused.“I—” My mouth dropped all the way to my lap. “I did not!”“Yes you did! You said you weren’t going to lose another boyfriend, and that would be me—the other boyfriend you don’t want to lose.”“But…I…I…”“Ha! You said it, and you can’t take it back! You are so my girlfriend now!”“I am not!”“Are too!“Am not!”“So are too!”“Aghhh!” I screamed again. “You are so impossible!”When I screamed, I lost control for a second and let out a burst of energy that stalled the truck.Ryan just grinned at me. He was lucky the car stopped right then, because I was contemplating knocking the stupid cocky smirk right off his face.Instead, I flung the door open.“Bye, honey!” Ryan called playfully as I jumped out of the truck. “I’ll see you at school tomorrow!”

“Because I kissed you? Seriously? You only like me because I’m a good kisser? That’s it. We’re not doing this. I’m not letting you risk your life justbecause you can’t think with your upstairs brain.”“No, you twit.” Ryan laughed. “Because you kissed me that day. I expected the ice queen and got a funny, go-with-the-flow girl that didn’t care whatanyone thought about her. A girl willing to stir up gossip just so that I could win a date with someone else.“You didn’t have to help me. In fact, you probably should have been insulted, but you weren’t.You kissed me, you smiled, and then you wished me good luck. No one’s ever surprised me like that. I couldn’t figure out why you did it, and I justhad to get to know you after that.” I had no idea that stupid kiss had that kind of effect on him. Charged him up like a battery, sure, but do all that? Allthis time I really thought it was just the superkissing that kept him coming back. I looked down at my lunch, feeling a little ashamed of my lack of faithin him, but Ryan couldn’t stop there.Oh, no, not Ryan Miller.“After that day, every time I was with you I got brief glimpses of the real Jamie, the one who is dying to break out, and she was this fun, relaxed,smart, funny, caring girl. Finding out the truth about you only made you that much more incredible. You’re so strong. You’ve gone through so much,you’re going through so much, but you never stop trying. You’re amazing.” I was surprised when I felt Ryan’s hand lift my chin up. I didn’t want to lookat him, I knew what would happen to my heart if I did, but I couldn’t stop myself. I craved him too much.When we made eye contact, his face lit up and he whispered, “I love you, Jamie Baker.” It came out of nowhere, and it stole the breath from me,leaving me speechless. Ryan stared at me, just waiting for some kind of reaction, and then I was the one who broke the no-kissing rule.It wasn’t my fault. He totally cheated! Like anyone could resist Ryan Miller when he’s touching your face and saying he loves you?I threw myself at him so fast that I startled him for a change, and he was the one who had to pull me off him when his hair started to stick up.“Sorry,” I breathed as he pulled away.“Don’t be sorry,” he teased. “Just stop.”“Sorry,” I said again when I noticed that his leg was now bouncing under the table.“Yeah. Looks like I don’t get to sleep through economics today.”“On the bright side, Coach could make you run laps all practice long and you’d be fine.”