“I'm in loooove with this boy, and when you in love with someone, you don't give up on 'em, mo matter what.”

“You have to be nicer to me," I said.Again he laughed. "What? I'm the King of nice. What are you talking about?" "You have to be nicer to me or... or...""Or what?" he said. Still Lars, still charming and jokey, but with a thread of fear. It snaked in and pierced my numbness and almost broke my resolve. Almost, but not quite."Or I have ti break up with you." I whisperedWhat was there more to say? Nothing. So I hung up.”

“My angel-boy is close now, as in five-feet-away close. There's no way I'm going to burst into song in front of him. But then the contrary part of me says, you're going to let a boy keep you from singing out loud? Sing, sister! Sing!So I do, and my angel-boy turns his head.”

“We all mess up. It's what we learn from our mistakes that matters.”

“I scowled. I could resist it all I wanted, but I did understand what he was trying to explain. How sometimes he pieces of who you thought you were didn't add up to who you really were, like with me not standing up for Patrick when he wore those pants.”

“I didn’t know what I thought, other than that nothing was easy anymore and no matter what I did, things got messed up.”

“Just because you're into Kate...well, it doesn't necessarily mean you're gay. Although it's okay if you are. But if that's what's worrying you...' Ariel sighed. 'God. It shouldn't be so hard to talk about this stuff. All I'm saying is maybe you're gay and maybe you're not. Maybe you're bi. Or maybe it's totally a Kate thing. Maybe you'd want to be with her whether she was a girl or a boy.' I blinked. I didn't know if what she said made things better or worse.”