friends

You don't tell anyone things like that about your friends, even when you're mad at them.

Oh, look, the lights are so pretty,_ I said dreamily, having just noticedthem.I smiled at the way the lights were dancing overhead, pink and yellow andblue. I felt some pressure on my arm and thought, I should look over and seewhat__ going on, but then the thought was gone, sliding away like Jell-O off ahot car hood.__ang?___eah. I__ here.__ struggled to focus on him. ____ so glad you__e here.___eah, I got that.___ don__ know what I__ do without you._ I peered up at him, trying to seepast the too-bright lights.__ou__ be fine,_ he muttered.__o,_ I said, suddenly struck by how unfine I would be. __ would be totallyunfine. Totally._ It seemed very urgent that he understand this.Again I felt some tugging on my arm, and I really wondered what that wasabout. Was Ella__ mom going to start this procedure any time soon?__t__ okay. Just relax._ He sounded stiff and nervous. __ust...relax. Don__try to talk.___ don__ want my chip anymore,_ I explained groggily, then frowned.__ctually, I never wanted that chip.___kay,_ said Fang. __e__e taking it out.___ just want you to hold my hand.___ am holding your hand.___h. I knew that._ I drifted off for a few minutes, barely aware ofanything, but feeling Fang__ hand still in mine.__o you have a La-Z-Boy somewhere?_ I roused myself to ask, every word aneffort.__m, no,_ said Ella__ voice, somewhere behind my head.__ think I would like a La-Z-Boy,_ I mused, letting my eyes drift shutagain. __ang, don__ go anywhere.___ won__. I__ here.___kay. I need you here. Don__ leave me.___ won__.___ang, Fang, Fang,_ I murmured, overwhelmed with emotion. __ love you. Ilove you sooo much._ I tried to hold out my arms to show how much, but Icouldn__ move them.__h, jeez,_ Fang said, sounding strangled.

I won__ have you calling me Miss Tuttle. That__ what the doc calls me. And the lady at the bank. One takes my temperature and the other my money. Friends don__ take anything__hey give.

It__ sad when friends become enemies. But what__ even worse is when they become strangers.

You take care of family first, friends second, and neighbors when you can.

It seems the older we get, the tighter our inner circle becomes. When life has you down, some of those you thought had your back run, others...sometimes strangers surprise you and fill that empty space up. Oh, but life has a great balancing act and when that axle turns and you are right side up again...you will definitely not be looking for any long, lost "friends" because your inner circle is battle-tested to win!

It's crazy. My life has been full of fun and adventure. but i love meeting people who make me feel like I've done nothing.

When you and I met, the meeting was over very shortly, it was nothing. Now it is growing something as we remember it, what will it be when I remember it as I lie down to die, what it makes in me all my days till then - that is the real meeting. The other is only the beginning of it. You say you have poets in your world. Do they not teach you this?

True friends are those who love you not in spite of your faults and imperfections, but because of them.

Roo: What__ your definition of popularity?Hutch: I used to think people were popular because they were good-looking, or nice, or funny, or good at sports. Roo: Aren__ they?Hutch: I__ think, if I could just be those things, I__ _ you know _ have more friends than I do. But in seventh grade, when Jackson and those guys stopped hanging out with me, I tried as hard as I could to get them to like me again. But then . . . (shaking his head as if to clear it) I don__ really wanna talk about it. Roo: What happened? Hutch: They just did some ugly stuff to me is all. And really, it was for the best. Roo: Why?Hutch: Because I was cured. I realized the popular people weren__ nice or funny or great-looking. They just had power, and they actually got the power by teasing people or humiliating them _ so people bonded to them out of fear. Roo: Oh. Hutch: I didn__ want to be a person who could act like that. I didn__ want to ever speak to any person who could act like that. Roo: OhHutch: So then I wasn__ trying to be popular anymore. Roo: Weren__ you lonely?Hutch: I didn__ say it was fun. (He bites his thumbnail, bonsai dirt and all.) I said it was for the best.

Noel: A lot of people see friends as something you have on Twitter or Facebook or wherever. If someone wants to read your updates and you want to read their updates, then you__e friends. You don__ ever have to see each other. But that seems like a stupid definition to me. Roo: Yeah.Noel: Although on the other hand, rethink. Maybe a friend is someone who wants your updates. Even if they__e boring. Or sad. Or annoyingly cutesy. A friend says, __ign me up for your boring crap, yes indeed_ _ because he likes you anyway. He__l tolerate your junk. Roo: You have lots of friends. Noel: No, I don__. Roo: You do. You know everyone at school. You get invited to parties. Noel: I get invited to parties, yeah. And I know people. But I don__ want their updates. Roo: Oh. Noel: And I sincerely doubt they want mine. Roo: I want your updates. Noel: I want your updates. (He looks down, bashfully.) I do. I want all your updates, Ruby.

Stop teasing you two,_ Suzy jumped in, __ot all of Kathy__ ideas are wacky.___ee thanks. Was that supposed to be a compliment?

Oh we'll know each other for forever' Bix said. 'The days of losing touch are almost gone.' 'What does that mean? ' Drew asks.'We're going to meet again in a different place,' Bix said. 'Everyone we've lost, we'll find. Or they'll find us.

Pick the weeds and keep the flowers.

I'm sarcastic and facetious. It's hard to find those people on the first encounter. I can be nice, but I don't want nice friends. I want funny, gregarious, sarcastic, and smart friends. It's so nice to hear you're not alone.

Alas! Charles made the promise glibly, and forgot all about it.

The thing I've noticed about life is that it just keeps coming at you. And it can be a real bummer. What you need to remember is that you're not alone. You've got friends and family. That's how we get by. We talk and share and eat cake and giggle in the dark, even when we're scared - no, especially when we're scared.

One of my biggest complaints about adulthood is that it's difficult to simply hang out with friends