Dead girl walking” the boys say in the halls. “Tell us your secrets” the girls whisper, one toilet to another. "I am that girl. I am the spaces between my thighs, daylight shinning through. I am the bones they want, wired on a porcelain frame.

Did you read last nights assignments?" Say "yes'" and get hammered again. Say "no'" and the same thing would happen.

You’re not dead, but you’re not alive, either. You’re a wintergirl, Lia-Lia, caught in between the worlds. You’re a ghost with a beat- ing heart. Soon you’ll cross the border and be with me. I’m so stoked. I miss you wicked.

There is nothing wrong with me. These are really sick people, sick that you can see.

I am so sorry. I wish you knew even one tenth of one percent of how sorry I am. ...It was my fault. Can I kill myself here, or should I do it outside, so the mess on your carpet doesn't upset your mother?

It is my first morning of high school. I have seven new notebooks, a skirt I hate, and a stomachache.

I reach for funny books all the time to help me get through life.