He let out a hiss of pain,then smiled that crooked, sheepish smile he always fell back on when he was caught doing something bad. "Sorry. I-I didn't mean to. I just- I've been lying here for hours, thinking about blood.

Lie until even you believe it - that's the real secret of lying

You in trouble?” Sam asks. The way he says it, I wonder if he’s thinking about how to get out of here if I am.

I'm not good at having friends. I mean, I can make myself useful to people. I can fit in. I get invited to parties and I can sit at any table I want in the cafeteria. But actually trusting someone when they have nothing to gain from me just doesn't make sense. All friendships are negotiations of power.

She knew what it felt like to tremble like that before touching someone -- desire so acute that it became despair.

But if you didn't believe in monsters, then how were you going to be able to keep safe from them?

Once, she made a boy come out of his house and kiss her under the streetlight. It was her first kiss. She thinks it was probably his, too. She never told him and she never, ever will.