The toes of our ratty black sneakers touched.

The Sisters were Southern Baptist, and they went to church on Saturdays and Sundays, and most other days, too.

Lena made a face. She almost never wore makeup; she didn't have to. "You know, it's not like we all sign a contract with Maybelline when we turn thirteen.

Summer School: Never stop learnin' if you want to stop earnin'. I'm reasonably sure there G's in learning and earning.

I hadn't fallen through his arms. He was ripped from mine.

There wasn't enough chocolate in the world to make this better.

What we had went so much deeper than a kiss. When we were together, she turned me completely inside out. It didn't matter if we were dead or alive. We could never be kept apart. There were some things more powerful than worlds or universes. She was my world, as much as I was hers. What we had, we knew. The poems are all wrong. It's a bang, a really big bang. Not a whimper. And sometimes gold can stay. Anybody who's ever been in love can tell you that.