She was alive, and they were dead. She had to try to make her life big. As big as she could. She promised Bailey she would keep playing.

During intermission she peeked out at the theater, watching it refill. When it was almost full and the lights blinked on and off, she saw three people file in through the center door and her breath caught. Time lapsed as they walked down the center aisle: three teenage girls all in a row. They were so big, so bright, so beautiful, so magnificent to Carmen’s eyes that she thought she was imagining them. They were like goddesses, like Titans. She was so proud of them! They were benevolent and they were righteous. Now, these were friends.

He just wanted to look at her and know her life was marching along under the same arch of time and space as he is.

I don't have the life of a famous person. But I do feel like I've been able to connect with a lot of people.

I did the searching and remembering, she did the disappearing and the forgetting.

She wanted him to notice her so much.

Tibby sat on the outside of a group of kids in the film program. There was a lot of dark clothing and heavy footwear, and quite a few piercings glinting in sunlight. They had invited her to sit with them while they all finished up their lunches before film seminar. Tibby knew that they had invited her largely because she had a ring in her nose. This bugged her almost as much as when people excluded her because she had a ring in her nose.