I just do the best I can under the circumstances.

Impulsiveness can be charming but deliberation can have an appeal, as well.

How it seemed like you could see everything, but certain things were blocked out, hidden.

Events conspired to bring you back to where you'd been. It was what you did then that made all the difference: it was all about potential.

Like life isn't complicated enough. You should at least be able to follow the signs.

Everything hurt. I closed my eyes, pressing my cheek to the street, and waited. What for, I didn't know. To be rescued. Or found. But no one came. All I'd ever thought I wanted was to be left alone. Until I was.

There's a kind of radar that you get, after years of being talked about and made fun of by other people. You can almost smell it when it's about to happen, can recognize instantly the sound of a hushed voice, lowered just enough to make whatever is said okay. I had only been in Colby for a few weeks. But I had not forgotten.