If this was a movie, we would've sat down at the table with the guys and they would have learned some kind of valuable lesson, like not to judge people by how they look, or that being different is okay. And Lena would've learned that all jocks weren't stupid and shallow. It always seemed to work in movies, but this wasn't a movie. This was Gatlin, which severely limited what could happen.

I couldn't sit by and watch them try to take her down. Not her.

moments bleed together, no span to time

Nothing in my life is a coincidence.

Suffering has been stronger than all other teaching, and has taught me to understand what your heart used to be.

There's something about sitting alone in the dark that reminds you how big the world really is, and how far apart we all are.

In history, she wasn't there while we reenacted the Lincoln-Douglas Debate, and Mr. Lee tried to make me argue the Pro-Slavery side, most likely as punishment for some future liberally minded paper I was bound to write.