The Champions

loving someone shouldn’t mean giving them permission to hurt you over and over,

Maybe Tyler isn't a bad guy, but he's proof that you can do the right thing and still be wrong.

By the garage entrance, I spot Gavin Steiger, along with Wes St. Pierre, standing sentry. It’s easy to see why they were picked for security; they’re both massive. Both guys have gold chains around their necks, the same haircut with the shaved sides and mop of curls on top of their heads. The only difference between them is that Wes is Black, and Gavin wishes he was.

I'm too angry to speak, or I would ask her how she could call those guys kids. They're bigger than most teachers. Their coaches buy them alcohol. Some of them have beards. How come guys like Gavin are treated like men most of the time, but when they fuck up, they're just kids?

Ms. Martinelli would tell her life story to a baked potato

No matter how many stories I know that have ended the same way, it's still impossible to accept.

I could call Mom from the office to pick me up, but I think I'd rather rot for the rest of my life in this dank-ass office than look her in the eye right now.

But loving someone shouldn't mean giving them permission to hurt you over and over.

He delivers the verdict with a gravity that suggests I asked to cook crystal meth in the back office.

how do you think it would go for a teacher who accused the most powerful man in the school of bullying?" Peter snorts. "That's exactly the problem," I say. "Why is a football coach the most powerful person in this school?

she's Team Football and not Team Hadley.

she's looking at them like a Capitol denizen gazing on District 12.