We didn't get that chance because I was afraid. Afraid I had no chance with you.

Teens in the '90s had the same basic desires as they do now.

We both laugh. And it feels good. A release. Like laughing at a funeral. Maybe inappropriate, but definitely needed.

It's nothing. A school project. My go-to answer for anything. Staying out late? School project. Need extra money? School project.

This time, for the first time, I saw the possibilities in giving up. I even found hope in it.

I felt I had a very innocent childhood and I feel privileged by that. But as an adult, I know that there were people who didn't have that. There are a lot of teens who haven't had as easy a childhood as me, and having literature that explores these "darker" parts helps relieve the burden and stress they may be feeling. As a writer, there is often a temptation to draw back when we write for teens - to preserve their innocence. But the reality is, if someone has already had that innocence taken in their life, then not writing about it is just brushing it under the rug.

Watching those guys pummel each other so no one would suspect them of being weak was too much for me. Their reputations were more important than their faces.