“Get me outa here. F*ckin' creepy cheerleaders.”

“Come on, Cabel," Carrie says. "Let me give you a ride, at least. Unless you want Shay to- hey, here she comes now." Carrie titters, her eyes dancing.Cabel's eyes grow wide. He slips into the backseat of Carrie's car without a word. "Get me outta here. Fuckin' creepy cheerleaders.”

“I just hope God doesn't get all the credit for bringing me home, because I sure hitchhiked a hell of a long ways and walked my frozen feet off to get here.”

“Cabel gives her a quizzical look. "I am totally not getting enough attention here.”

“I've got a huge, terrible problem."Oh no! Not that horrible toenail fungus that takes six months to cure?"No, no, no. Much worse. This is shocking news. Are you sure I should tell you while you're driving?"I've got my headset on. Both hands on the wheel. Windows rolled up. Go for it."Okay, here goes...Principal Abernethy called me this morning to let me know I'm in the running for valedictorian."There is silence.A rather loudish snort.And guffaws.Congratulations," she finally says, laughing. "What ever are you going to do?"Fail ever assignment from today onward."You won't be able to."Watch me.”

“Are you okay?" she whispers, giggling.Me? Oh sure. You might have to carry me out of here, though."What happened?"I created a distraction."I gathered that."Step stool, encyclopedias, floor."I see. Well, I can't thank you enough."Sure you can. Help me flunk enough tests, so I drop out of the 'torian range."Can't you just tell Abernethy that you have a reputation as a dumbshit to keep up, and you don't want the attention?"Flunking is more fun.”

“He waits a moment. And then murmurs, 'I love you, Janie Hannagan. I can't get enough of you. I wake up in the morning and all I want to do is be with you.' He props himself up on his elbow. 'Do you have any idea how unusual, how important that is to me?”