I realise now that I wanted to disappear. To get so lost that nobody ever found me. To go so far away that I'd never be able to make my way home again. But I have no idea why.
“
A person’s character, I realize, is never black-and-white. There is so much gray.
“
Teenagers, as everyone knows, tend to believe they are immortal.
“
Liz?" "Hmmm?" "Why do you care about me?" The question seems to startle me. It's uncharacteristic for Richie, who is usually so cool and self-assured. I open my eyes. "Why would you ask me that?" "Because I don't understand. We're so different." I reach around the side of his face. Once again, I wipe fresh beads of sweat from his forehead. This time, I don't even bother wiping my hands on my pants. I lace my fingers into his again, and the two of us lie together, his damp clamminess seeping onto my made up face and my pretty clothes. Obviously, I couldn't care less. "But we fit," I whisper. "Like this." And I tighten my grip around him. "Mmm." He smiles, his eyes still closed. "You're right. We do." "Richie...I'm lying. I don't like you." "You don't?" His voice cracks. "No." I bring my lips close to his ear. "I love you Richie Wilson.
“
It occurs to me now that it isn't that I was always certain there was no truth to the rumor; it was that I didn't want to acknowledge the possibility there could be any truth to it.
“
He can't hear you." Alex sighs. "You aren't the sharpest sheep in the barn, are you?" "That's not even the right metaphor," I snap, my attention still focused on Richie. "It's the sharpest pencil in the box." "Right." Alex nods. "Except you are a sheep. I'm not stupid, I just adjusted the metaphor to fit your persona-" "Oh, shut up. Richie!" I scream again. Alex shakes his head.
“
You know what my friends and I used to call girls like you? Girls who had everything handed to them on a silver platter, who only cared about how they looked and who was dating the most popular guy?" "What?" His grin grows wider. "We called you bitches. You girls were straight-up bitches.
“
There was never any question, not for either of us, that we'd stay together after high school. Richie Wilson was the love of my life.
“
Solo quiero que vivan su vida; que sigan adelante sabiendo que cada instante es valioso, que cada día es un regalo; que vean la vida como lo que es: una serie de infinitas posibilidades, no solo de grandes penas sino también de grandes alegrías.
“
Why should they bother to go grocery shopping? It's not like their son needs to eat or anything like that.
“
It’s like they don’t even know how to stand beside each other without one groping the other. Their clinginess has always annoyed me.
“
My favorite uncle was gay,” she says, “and he doesn’t like to dance, either.” She looks at Chad. “I don’t like that word. Fag. Don’t use it, okay?