I didn't realize then what a privilege that was: to be bored with your best friend; to have time to waste.
Lauren OliverThey told us love was a disease. They told us it would kill us in the end. For the very first time I realize, that this, too, might also be a lie.
Lauren OliverMost people don't want to be saved. Besides, if you keep bailing everybody out, they'll never learn to paddle on their own.
Lauren OliverIt's the rule of the wilds. You must be bigger, and stronger, and tougher. A coldness radiates through me, a solid wall that is growing, piece by piece, in my chest. He doesn't love me. He never loved me. It was all a lie. "The old Lena is dead." I say, and then push past him. Each step is more difficult than the last; the heaviness fills me and turns my limbs to stone. You must hurt or be hurt.
Lauren OliverAs Steve draws me closer to the band, all I can see is a frenzied mass of seething, writhing people, like a many-headed sea snake, grinding, waving their arms, stamping their feet, jumping. No rules, just energy - so much energy, you could harness it; I bet you could power Portland for a decade. It is more than a wave. It's a tide, an ocean of bodies.
Lauren Oliver