Shouting at the Rain

But there is something you must remember about those feelings deep down inside. They come from your soul, and they’re a precious thing. They should be saved for the ones who’ll be cradling them like a new baby. You don’t hand them off to just anyone. The ones that love you protect your feelings because they’ve been given a piece of you. Others may toss them around for just the same reason.

Friendship is like boogie boarding. You have to learn when to hold on and when to let go.

the sun is always in the sky but sometimes you just can't see it

You can either stay here while they throw shovelfuls of sand on you or just climb out. Your choice not theirs. Then I head toward the stairs, not even loking back at Brandy or Tressa. And it feels really good to step away from the shovels of sand they've been throwing on me for weeks and finally climb out of the hole.

But it turns out . . . I can stop myself. If I stop to think. Feeling mad doesn’t mean I can’t control what I do. I used to use being angry like it was an excuse. Like it wasn’t my fault. But I can stop myself. And it feels good.

We all make them, and the best we can do is try to make it right. And you have. So enough of this, okay?

We'll just wait for nature. She put us in this predicament and will help get us out. No use shouting at the rain. No one was hurt.

I guess some friends are just glitter, and other friends are glue

So.” I hold up my jar and look at the sun through lemonade. “Would you say that this jar is half empty or half full?” He stares and thinks for a few seconds. “Neither. The jar is just twice as big as it needs to be.

She walks around the counter but holds Ronan’s gaze. “So Henry Lasko was here this very morning talking about how brave you are, wanting to jump into the water after sharks—and by the way, I hope someone has told you that ain’t brave. That’s just foolishness. But this is what I want to know: Are you brave enough . . . to flip a good crepe?” It startles me that the words brave and crepe are in the same sentence.

As I wash the dirt from the jar, I think about how, like a seed in the ground, burying made things grow. But not in a good way. Just like how not talking about things can make stuff feel like a bigger problem, and even more confusing.

He was the one who told me a man is not made by his mistakes. He's made by what he does about them.

I'm lucky. When the waves are rolling in, my friends are the jetties.

Loneliness rises all around me like a fog in the early morning. And I realize how much I miss the friends that don't make my stomach hurt.

blood and having the same last name. It’s made by the people who love you. Who worry about you and champion you. Who take one look at you and know when you need a talk over that nourishing tea.

It's not what you look at that counts, but what you see

to Spencer from Topeka. “Man alive! How many letters do you need? It’s

anything made by man can be replaced, but not so much with things made by God.