Standing in the line at the food court, I try to be myself. But I forget how I usually stand when I’m myself.
My hair is so scary that if you saw it walking down the street, you’d cross to the other side. This humidity is not helping. It’s just an excuse for my hair to let its frizz flag fly.
It’s interesting how you can know someone for a long time, and then one day you just see them in this whole different way.
No one should be ashamed to speak up. Shame makes it easy for neglect and abuse and bullying to stay huddled together in their dark corner. It’s time to throw the switch on this spotlight. If I can inspire other kids to speak their truth, then everything I’ve been through will have been worth it.
I’m so excited that my stomach is in a jiggle-jaggle of nerves. There they go again. Jiggle. Jaggle. I’m a mess.
Tobey puts the CD on. Then he comes over and hugs me. I lean my head on his chest. ‘I want to know everything about you,’ he whispers.
I’ve already lived through the worst time of my life. So I know that whatever happens to me from now on, nothing will ever be as bad as it was back then. That makes me happy.
Girls with the beauty-and-brains thing going on are the most intimidating girls in the world.
SEEING BELIEVING what’s in front of you is not necessarily the entire story.
School would be way more tolerable if everyone wasn’t so afraid to be who they really are. And if everyone else would let them.
Its so weird how connecting with someone in a different setting can bring out this whole other side of them. Like how certain places inspire us to act in ways we normally wouldn’t.
Not even a repeat of Dawson’s Creek makes me feel better.
Walks are never as good during the day. At night, when everyone’s apartments are lit up and you can see inside, that’s where the action is. Everything about this fascinates me. Windows, lampposts, building facades. Looking into other people’s lives. The way it all comes together, this entity greater than the sum of its parts. I feel inspired. I’m excited about my future life.
That’s the tricky thing about being bonded to someone for life. Blake and his dad are bonded like I’m bonded with Erin. We’re irrevocably tied together by history, a history that can never be erased. Even if you want to deny it, even it you want to pretend it never existed, it will always be a part of you. It will always, in some way, define who you are.
And now we’re supposed to go back to our normal lives. That’s what people do. They have these amazing experiences with another person, and then they just go home and clean the bathroom or whatever.
But I’m okay with being here in the Now and letting later work itself out.
The point of learning about history is so we can improve the future.
The smell of hyacinths in the summer night air. At this moment, standing here with a boy I just met who already feels like home, I am overwhelmed with city love.
Seriously, if we stayed inside the lines on everything we’re supposed to be doing, we wouldn’t get anything done. Know what I mean?
We all can change the ay things are. Maybe not as much as we want to, but we can at least make things better.
You have to live in the moment. You can’t let experiences pass you by without doing anything about it.