I think you’re amazing,’ someone says to someone else, but it doesn’t matter who, because they’re all amazing really. People are amazing.

I think what it is is, if you're in school and you're not that bright or good-looking or popular or whatever, and one day you say something and someone laughs, well, you sort of grab onto it, don't you? You think, well I run funny and I've got this stupid big face and big thighs and no-one fancies me, but at least I can make people laugh. And it's such a nice feeling, making someone laugh, that maybe you get a bit reliant on it. Like, if you;re not funny then you're not...anything

Everything was fine, and she had the rare, new sensation of being exactly where she wanted to be.

She wondered if she was doomed to be one of those people who spend their lives trying things.

If she does have a failing, and it's obviously only a tiny one, it's that she doesn't seem particularly curious about other people, or me, anyway.

And you stupid, stupid woman, stupid for caring, stupid for thinking that he cared.

I applied for the University of Life. Didn't get the grades.