“The girls were flaring at me, as if I was the one who had won. And I wasn't even fighting.”

“I wasn't totally immune to the charms of the opposite sex, but I wasn't one of those romantic, swoony girls who had pink fluffy daydreams about falling in love.”

“The girl in the mirror wasn't who I wanted to be and her life wasn't the one I wanted to have.”

“Losing Abby wasn't a story I remembered from early childhood--it was in my face, debilitating me like a sickness, robbing me of my senses and physically, excruciatingly painful. My mother's words echoed in my ear. Abby was the girl I had to fight for, and I went down fighting. None of it was ever going to be enough.”

“If they [won], it would only be because they didn't forget what they were. Who they were. And that it was worth it to fight just for that.”

“So here I was expecting at the very best a cordial welcome from the girls who were prepared to fight me to the death for someone I didn’t want. Instead I was embraced.”