“That was progress, right there. Except no one would ever know how hard I was working to keep my temper under control, because the whole point of keeping your temper under control is not doing things like throwing a milk carton in someone's face even though they clearly deserve it.”

“Kind of just existed from day to day, on weird plateau of feeling nothingness.”

“I wanted to grab his stupid ears and smash his stupid head against the door until his stupid brains leaked out. Instead, I did nothing.”

“Her brain is like a filing cabinet – everything neatly stored in categories. My brain is more like soup – everything all blended and mushed together.”

“Everyone’s got secrets, Jem. It’s what makes people interesting.”

“The butterflies in my stomach turn into vampire bats as we pull up to the school.”

“Has this version of me been lurking there all along, somewhere deep below the surface, biding its time, waiting for its chance to make an appearance?”

“It’s amazing, the lies you can tell yourself. Even more amazing, the lies you can believe when you’re desperate enough.”

“It’s not that I mind being alone, not really. I can distract myself with silly fantasies and daydreams for hours, but in the end it always comes back to me. That’s what I’m left with: just me. And that’s what scares me more than anything. Me.”

“To be perfectly honest, it scared me a little. You get so used to seeing the same thing in the mirror every day you stop thinking about what you look like.”

“This is the real way a friendship ends. Not with some huge screaming row, but with a gradual withdrawal. You’d think it would be less painful this way.”