“Oh My God," I blurted, grabbing onto Phin as we faced the open bedroom door. "It's the axe murderer.""I doubt he would knock," she said, but she was whispering, too, and didn't move away from me.”

“Is Lisa going to the prom?"I shelved my worries for the moment. "I don't know, Mom. We don't talk about the You-Know-What. We made a pact.""You could go together, if you didn't want to mess with dates and things.""I don't want to mess with the prom at all, Mom."She ignored me, placidly eating popcorn, piece by piece. "Some girls in my high school class did that and had a wonderful time. They weren't lesbians or anything. Not that it would matter if they were.""That's nice, Mom. I'm glad you're so open-minded." I grabbed my Coke and the popcorn bowl and headed for the stairs, because I could go my whole life without ever hearing my mother talk about lesbians again."Maybe you could take Justin to the prom," she called after me, laughter in her voice. "He is such a hottie."Shoot me now.”

“Focus, Amy. Just because he looked great in the saddle did not mean he wasn't an axe murderer.”

“Emery cut in impatiantly, "For crying out loud. Who do you think you are, Nancy Drew?"Hey," I snapped, because no one sniped at my sister but me, and Mark echoed with a stern "Chill, dude."Phin was unperturbed. "Those books were highly unrealistic. Do you have any idea how much brain damage a person would have if she were hit on the head and drugged with chloroform that often?”

“She was the only creature in the world who would really care if something happened to me, even if it was only because I was the bringer of kibble.”

“[W]hen Ben was kissing me, the whole world retreated. I felt things I'd never felt before, in places I never knew were connected.But I was pretty sure that whatever was buzzing against my thigh was not normal. For one thing, it was ringing.Ben dragged his mouth away from mine and mumbled a curse that was a little shocking and kind of hot."Ignore it," he said.That was easy for him to say when his cell phone was rounding third base. If anyone got a home run tonight, I didn't want it to be Verizon Wireless.”

“Faith isn't absence of doubt. It's belief without proof, not without question.”