It was like when you ripped a piece of paper into two: no matter how you tried, the seams never fit exactly right again.

But it’s important to acknowledge that while we may make mistakes, in the long run, we may also learn from them.

Like a word on a page that you’ve printed and read a million times, that suddenly looks strange or wrong, foreign. And you feel scared for a second, like you’ve lost something, even if you’re...

Family isnt about blood relationships, its about the meaning behind them. I relize now that sharing chromosoms is not the only way to having a family, its about the friendship behind it.

So this had been all I wanted, a boy who understood how I felt. Now, though, I sometimes wished for more.

These were always the weirdest trips for me, when it was midnight or even later, and we pulled up to a dark house, trying to be quiet. Like a robbery in reverse, creeping around to...

For as long as I could remember, other people had either overshadowed me or left me out in the open, alone. But Mac, as Layla had said all those weeks ago, was always somewhere nearby....

Algunas cosas no duran para siempre, pero otras sí. Como una buena canción, o un buen libro, o un buen recuerdo que se puede recuperar y contemplar en los malos momentos..

Are those the only options? Nothing or forever?

Too many locks, not enough keys.

the point is there’s no way to be a hundred percent sure about anyone or anything. So you’re left with a choice. Either hope for the best, or just expect the worst.”If you expect the...

I remembered Owen telling me how music had saved him in Phoenix, that it drowned everything out, and it was the same for me now. As long as I had something to listen to, I...

I’m sorry,” I heard him say again. Then, out of the corner of my eye, I saw a sudden blur of movement as he slid out of his seat, left some bills for the breakfast...

Life is full of screwups. You’re supposed to fail sometimes. It’s a required part of the human existance.

I mean, it’s impossible to fake anything if you’ve already seen the other person in a way they’d never choose for you to. You can’t go back from that.

A united front announcing a split.

Home wasn’t a set house, or a single town on a map. It was wherever the people who loved you were, whenever you were together. Not a place, but a moment, and then another, building...

Life shouldn’t be about the either/or. We’re capable of more than that, you know?

Friends are honest with each other. Even if the truth hurts.-Maggie

Maybe we were all destined to just keep doing the same stupid things, over and over again, never really learning a single thing.

I was used to being invisible. People rarely saw me, and if they did, they never looked close. I wasn’t shiny and charming like my brother, stunning and graceful like my mother, or smart and...

Isn’t it weird? The way you remember things when it’s gone.

I was just stock in the middle, vague and undefined.

If you have just one person believe in you, you’ll always find your way

Wherever you will go, I will let you down, But this lullaby goes on.

Because you have to just go with the flow. Your life is not your own, with people coming in and out all the time. You get mellow because you have to.

You should never be surprised when someone treats you with respect, you should expect it.

If someone is really close with you, your getting upset or them getting upset is okay, and they don’t change because of it. It’s just part of the relationship. It happens. You deal with it.

I’d still thought that everything I thought about that night-the shame, the fear-would fade in time. But that hadn’t happened. Instead, the things that I remembered, these little details, seemed to grow stronger, to the...

For me, family means the silent treatment. At any given moment, someone is always not speaking to someone else.’Really,’ I said.We’re passive-aggressive people,’ she explained, taking a sip of her coffee. ‘Silence is our weapon...

He wasn’t what I’d thought he was; maybe he never had been. I wasn’t what I’d thought I was, either.

I hadn’t said goodbye. It had been easier, like always, to just disappear, sparing myself the messy details of another farewell. Now, my fingers hovered over my track pad, moving the cursor down to his...

Maybe a marriage, like a life, isn’t only about the Big Moments, whether they be bad or good. Maybe it’s all the small things–like being guided slowly forward, surely, day after day– that stretch out...

Timing clicking together, finally, pieces falling into place.

You want to take me to a movie?” I asked. “Well, not really,” he said. “What I really want is for you to be my girlfriend. But I thought saying that might scare you off.

that music is a total constant. That’s why we have such a strong visceral connection to it, you know? Because a song can take you back instantly to a moment, or a place, or even...

Do you even realize how happythe average teenage girl would be in your shoes? I have a credit card. We’reat the mall. I want to buy you things. It’s like adolescent nirvana.”- Cora

a song can take you back instantly to a moment, or a place, or even a person. No matter what else has changed in you or the world, that one song stays the same, just...

That was the hard thing about grief, and the grieving. They spoke another language, and the words we knew always fell short of what we wanted them to say.

Life is full of screwups,” he said, chucking another paper at the split-level before taking the corner. “You’re supposed to fail sometimes. It’s a required part of the human existence.

All those clean, fresh starts had made me forget what it was like, until now, to be messy and honest and out of control. To be real.

School was my solace, and studying let me escape, allowing me to live a thousand vicarious lives.

But if everything was always smooth and perfect, you’d get too used to that, you know? You have to have a little bit of disorganization now and then. Otherwise, you’ll never really enjoy it when...

The worst thing you can do if you miss or need someone is let them know it.

He thought about this for a second. “True. But if you never really make friends, you probably don’t have anyone to be your 2 a.m. Which would kind of suck. I just looked at him...

It’s okay to accept things from people. It doesn’t make you weak or helpless.

Grief can be a burden, but also an anchor. You get used to the weight, how it holds you in place.

Accepting all the good and bad about someone. It’s a great thing to aspire to. The hard part is actually doing it.

There comes a time when the world gets quiet and the only thing left is your own heart. So you’d better learn the sound of it. Otherwise you’ll never understand what it’s saying.

Together, we looked down at the tiny house, the sole thing on this vast, flat surface. Like the only person living on the moon. It could be either lonely or peaceful, depending on how you...