He turns toward me. I want to touch him, but Iโm afraid of his bareness; afraid that he will make me bare too. โIs this scaring you, Tris?โ โNo,โ I croak. I clear my throat. โNot really. Iโm onlyโฆafraid of what I want.โ โWhat do you want?โ Then his face tightens. โMe?โ Slowly I nod.
Veronica RothTHE SERUM WEARS off five hours later, when the sun is just beginning to set. Tobias shut me in my room for the rest of the day, checking on me every hour. This time when he comes in, I am sitting on the bed, glaring at the wall. โThank God,โ he says, pressing his forehead to the door. โI was beginning to think it would never wear off and I would have to leave you here to โฆ smell flowers, or whatever you wanted to do while you were on that stuff.
Veronica RothYou were afraid of shooting people?" "No," I say. "I was afraid of my considerable capacity to kill." How many young men fear that there is a monster inside of them?
Veronica RothI have never had parents who set good examples, parents whose expectations were worth living up to, but she did. I can see them within her, the courage and the beauty they pressed into her like a handprint.
Veronica RothSometimes all I want is to be a few inches taller so the world does not look like a dense collection of torsos.
Veronica RothWhen i get home, I sit on the front step and take deep breaths of the cool spring air for a few minutes. My mother was the one who taught me to steal moments like those, moments of freedom, though she didn't now it. I watched her... But I learned something else from watching her too, which is that the free moments always have to end.
Veronica Roth