No guy in his right mind would ever choose me when there are people like Hana in the world: It would be like settling for a stale cookie when what you really want is a big bowl of ice cream, whipped cream and cherries and chocolate sprinkles included.

He is no longer mine to lose, but the grief is there, a gnawing sense of disbelief.

You see, we didn't know.

I’m not the Hana everyone told me I would be after my cure.

I feel a flash of grief so intense it almost makes me cry out: not for what I lost, but for the chances I missed.

amazingly, i'd actually forgotten that i'm supposed to be plain. i'm so used to alex telling me i'm beautiful. i'm so used to feeling beautiful around him. a hollow opens up in my chest. this is what life will be like without him: everything will become ordinary again. i'll become ordinary again.

Things change after you die, though, I guess because dying is the loneliest thing you can do.