“I couldn’t bear to be talked about. Some girls are shiny-sharp enough to not be damaged, but I didn’t think I would be.”

“I wanted to tell you everything. And that hurt because some things were too scary. Some things even I didn’t understand. How could I tell someone—someone I was really talking to for the first time—everything I was thinking?I couldn’t. It was too soon.”

“I was young, and I was damaged, and I couldn’t imagine being not young, and not damaged.”

“I blinked at him just casually talking about my new sex life with his genie-shiny head, and I knew at any second I would break into hysterics.”

“I think it is just as important to sing about beautiful mornings as it is to talk about slums. I just couldn’t write anything without hope in it. ~ Oscar Hammerstein”

“I think it was the one thing I didn’t like about him or about guys in general: when a girl says she doesn’t want to talk about it, the truth is that she usually does. I wanted him to pry it out of me. Of course, I would’ve pretended to be a little angry that he didn’t just leave me alone, but eventually I would’ve told him, when I was tired of pretending.”