How did we get to this place where we had to be tough all the time and never said how much we loved each other?

The TV said you should ignore bullies and they would stop harassing you. In practice this worked about half the time. The other half, you ended up with two tall boys shadowing you through a trailer park, their fingers taking little nips at your clothes, like dogs.

Yes, I was good at reading people. I studied them so I could put them in my novels.

Or that I couldn't stand to watch anything bad happen to you, because it was like it was happening to me too. Is that love?

The nurse knocked softly on the door of the examining room and wheeled in a shiny silver tray displaying neatly arranged instruments of torture.

My mistake was assuming that when I got to college, people would not be such assholes.

But you are right, being stupid is not illegal. Otherwise half this town would be behind bars.