“Her freckles were orange, as if somebody had spray-painted her face with liquid Cheetos.”

“Her hair is smoldering. Her face was smudged with soot. She had a cut on her arms, her dress was torn, and she was missing a boot. Beautiful.”

“Don't die on me," she ordered. "You are not dying on me.""Yes, ma'am." He felt light-headed, but she was about the most beautiful thing he'd ever seen. Her hair was smoldering. Her face was smudged with soot. She had a cut on her arm, her dress was torn, and she was missing a boot. Beautiful.”

“Maybe—just maybe—Sadie had my best interests at heart. (I just caught her making faces at me, so maybe not.)”

“You want her to like you. But when you rescue somebody…it complicates things. Don’t get starry-eyed about somebody you can’t have, especially if it blinds you to somebody who’s really important. Don’t…don’t make my mistakes.”

“Are you kidding?" She looked at me as if I'd just dropped from the moon. Her cheeks were bright red."What's the problem now?" I demanded."Me, go with you to the...the 'Thrill Ride of Love'? How embarrassing is that? What if somebody saw me?""Who's going to see you?" But my face was burning now, too. Leave it to a girl to make everything complicated. "Fine," I told her. "I'll do it myself." But when I started down the side of the pool, she followed me, muttering about how boys always messed things up.”

“Far, far below, red liquid bubbled. Blood? Lava? Evil ketchup? None of the posibilities were good.”