“I don't need to kill goats to say things. I CAN talk.”

“I stared harder. Come on, vampire mojo. Do your thing. "Don't. Kill. Yourself." "Why. Are you. Talking. Like this?”

“It's a secret code," said Calvin. "Girls are not not like boys. If a boy wants to kill you, he says 'I'm going to kill you.' If a girl wants to kill you, she says, 'We need to talk.' That's the code."I gasped. "Has a girl ever wanted to talk to you?" I asked. "Yup," said Calvin."How come you're still alive?" I asked."I vomited," said Calvin.”

“I don't talk things, sir. I talk the meaning of things.”

“Killing you is not the worst thing they can do to you," I say. "Controlling you is.”

“Maybe superficial is exactly what I want right now. If you don't talk about anything that matters, no one can say anything that'll hurt you--and you don't have to talk about the things that are eating away at you from the inside.”