Also, as an author, character has always been what I'm most interested in - much more so than plot or setting, although those are good things too.

Kids are smart. Knowledge is power. Let them figure things out. Don't turn into that grown-up who they won't come to.

And you're figuring out who you are, and you haven't yet become stagnant in your thinking. You haven't solidified. And one thing that I find is that a lot of grown-ups tend to look back on their high school or middle school years and say, "Oh, thank God all that's over."

You know it’s them books what make you talk funny.

So as a seventh grader, no, you weren't friends with people you didn't like. But sometimes you also weren't friends with people you did like, which was complicated, and which didn't make any sense if you tried to explain it. Sometimes things just changed. That's where the sadness came in.

I didn't like being alone. Being alone was slightly better than having to deal with people, that's all. Or so I'd convinced myself.

I'm sorry," he said again, and this time he took those words and owned them.