...Next time you're faced with a choice, do the right thing. It hurts everyone less in the long run.

Somehow the silence seemed to connect us in a way like words never could. - Julianna Baker

To by held above the earth and be brushed by the wind," she said,"it's like your heart has been kissed by beauty.

I liked it. I liked her. And every time I saw her, she seemed more beautiful. She just seemed to glow. I'm not talking like a hundred-watt bulb; she just had this warmth to her. Maybe it came from climbing that tree. Maybe it came from singing to chickens. Maybe it came from whacking at two-by-fours and dreaming about perpetual motion. I don't know. All I know is that compared to her, Shelly and Miranda seemed so...ordinary.

And now I was seeing that there was something really cool about that family. All of them. They were just...real. And who were we? There was something spinning wickedly out of control inside this house. It was like seeing inside the Baker's world had opened up windows into our own, and the view was not a pretty one. Where had all this stuff come from? And why hadn't I ever seen it before.

Okay that’s it. Now I’m torching this. I just need to score a match.

Julie always tried to stand beside me, or talk to me, or in some other way mortify me.