Great. Lookout. I'm a lookout. Another thing to put on my college applications. What do I do if I see someone?" Val looked back. "I'm not sure, actually.

If you keep it," Daneca says, "he'll have his claws in you." Everyone has their claws in me. Everyone.

My head is pounding. I wish the mints were aspirin.

She was the epic crush of my childhood. She was the tragedy that made me look inside myself and see my corrupt heart. She was my sin and my salvation, come back from the grave to change me forever. Again. Back then, when she sat on my bed and told me she loved me, I wanted her as much as I have ever wanted anything.

She didn't know how much she'd been hoping that he still loved her, until she felt how much it hurt to realize he didn't.

I can't trust the people I care about not to hurt me. And I'm not sure I can trust myself not to hurt them, either.

I thought of how proud he was when he took the marks- cutting the skin of his throat in a long slash and then packing it with ashes until keloid scars rose up. He called it his second smile.