young-adult-fiction

Thanet is having a moment,_ I said, leaning forward so Quinn could see him.__hat__ wrong, man?_ Quinn said. __ere you not aware high school dances suck? That they always have sucked and they will continue sucking as long as the world turns?

I won__ forget it,_ I said. __ hope you meet someone perfect one day.___a_yeah, that__ just it. I think I already did._ As we opened our doors to step out, he touched my arm. __ust to be clear, if I, like, leaned over and whispered your name in your ear, still nothing?

I needed out. The Jeep wasn__ fast enough. I shut it down, grabbed the keys and started running like a bear was at my heels. I couldn__ even see Henry anymore through my tears so it surprised me when he caught me in his arms halfway. The first thing I did was pound on his chest and ask him why he hadn__ called. The second thing I did was kiss him so hard he couldn__ answer me.

My dad used to say, __his is what your right arm__ for, son,__ John said. __his is the time and these are the people and I__ give my right arm to be a light, a comfort, to them. I know you would, too. In whatever form it takes. Use these materials and make something great. Do it on faith, knowing you probably won__ be around to see how the story ends.

I just read this great quote by Junot Diaz, he was talking about true intimacy, and he was saying that it was the willingness to be vulnerable and to be found out. That__ what I felt that YA did. It wasn't pretentious, and it wasn__ hiding its heart. It wanted to be found out...It felt like those moments when you go to a party and you're standing around for a long time, going, I don't fit in here, what am I going to talk to these people about? And everybody's getting drunk, and then you find this one person, and you end up sitting in some corner talking about all these arcane things.And then before you know it you're having a conversation about the meaning of life and it's four o__lock in the morning. That kind of feeling, that kind of intimacy _ I felt like that's what I got from YA.

I thought back to Meg__ advice about Hemingway sentences__imple declarative statements that showed the truth and distilled the meaning. My first attempt at that had been cynical and messed up. I gave it a go again.Find one lost sheep.The angels rejoice.

I recognized Meg__ swirly handwriting and crooked my index finger into the side of the envelope to rip it open. There was no letter. Just a picture. A picture of Meg holding a picture of me. The word HOME echoed through my body like a rifle shot.

Her problem is with pretty,_ Tennyson said. "She thinks I__l need all these dresses in college. Like I would ever in a billion years pledge a sorority. I__l pack a few of these to be ironic, though. I can wear them to, like, truck stops at night with mascara running down my cheeks and stuff.

Wait,_ Quinn said. __here__ one more thing._ I turned around and raised an eyebrow. His eyes were wary and he lacked his usual confidence.__o to the Winter Dance with me.

He smiled and squinted at me again, tilting his head up and to the right as he stared. __aybe what I__ attracted to in you is more than your looks and your brain and your humor._ He leaned closer like he had a secret. __t could be your soul,_ he whispered.I pushed his cheek until he was squinting at the door to the kitchen instead. __s this when you tell me I__ your soul mate, O__eill?

I refused to believe that someone who had a voice that angelic could be bad. I knew it was illogical to think that way, but I had to believe in something good.

There are no more gates, only hinges clinging to the walls like broken spiders.

I turn and run, watching my feet trample a massacre of weeds. I mourn them. The only thing that grows is dandelions in the cracks of the sidewalk and we always end up killing them.

After watching too many scary movies it was hard not to have an overactive imagination, along with an inherent distrust of seemingly benevolent (and sometimes inanimate) things, like lawn gnomes.

There's something about the thousands of glittering lights, the veil of nighttime that almost makes this place beautiful, especially in the reflection of the water. It makes everything askew, disoriented. There's more truth in a ripple of water than in a clear day.

Kids without dads are desperate and jealous. Those with dads can be uppity and sharp.

Lord knows why I find you attractive, Michael, when you generally smell like weed and broken hobo dreams.

Why am I not good enough?At least he loves Darren and Yaichain some wayeven if it's horrible, he shows them attentionand I am furnitureI get nothing nothingnothingno thing