A rat called Possible New Strain was sitting under a spaghetti strainer held down with a pile of journalism textbooks, saying rude things in rat-speak.

Apparently textbooks were an endangered species here in Bixby, Oklahoma.

You and David could both be right. Maybe human beings are programmed … to help one another, even to fall in love. But just because it's human nature doesn't make it bad, Tally. Besides, we had a whole city of pretties to choose from, and we chose each other."-Zane

Which was worse: a friend with brain damage, or one who despised you?

Becoming pretty doesn't just change the way you look," she said. "No," David said. "It changes the way you think.

You're insane!" she shouted. "Pretty cool, huh?" "No!"Tally yelled. "Why didn't you tell me it was broken?" Shay shrugged. "More fun that way?" "More fun?" Her heart beating fast,her vision strangely clear. She was full of anger and relief and...joy. "Well, kind of. But you suck!

Maybe that was the price of loving someone: You lost your grasp of where they ended and you began.