The world expected girls to pluck and primp and put on heels. Meanwhile, boys dressed in rumpled T-shirts and baggy pants and misplace their combs, and yet you were suppose to fall at their feet? Unacceptable.

Truth casts a spell of its own.

This is how the fire starts. This is how we burn.

Why is it that some secrets can drown you while some pull you close to others in a way you never want to lose?

He wanted to hit something or someone. He wanted to burn up the whole world, heal it, and burn it down again.

Because 'You're perfect just the way you are,' is what your guidance counselor says. And she's an alcoholic.

He took comfort in the neon signs, the wild strands of jazz creeping out of clubs whenever happy swells of people pushed through the doors in their finery.