It seemed everyone knew their place in it, but I was in the mood where I would rather be alone and look a houseplants.

sometimes life isn’t worth the pain. i’m going for a swim. goodbye, my love.

Oh God, this is my fantasy! Where those just-friend boys suddenly realize they love me.”I don’t know if this was like that.”What happened?’He thought for a moment. ‘Well. I realized I loved her.’Hannah gasped. ‘Oh...

Everybody should have a librarian.

I wanted to meet the monster. Why go down if you can go up?

Because I love you.

I hated puberty. It had been that horrible stage from child hood, to pre teen, and my stage from ugly, to ugly with menstrual cramps.

There it was again, the prickling sense of standing on a precipice.

What is your definition of skank?’ I ask.’A skank fucks skeezas she barely knows.

I don’t know what I believe. I guess that makes me a Christmas Tree Agnostic.

She was beautiful, but her youth, the very awkwardness of her age, prevented her from flaunting it.

There was still a bit of sunshine in the sky, not that it mattered. High treetops and reaching branches entombed us from above in a dark coffin. It was still in the afternoon. We had...

At what point do they believe what’s been branded on their skin instead of just knowing who they are on the inside.

Sometimes we focus on the lyrics too much and forget to dance to the music.

I’m leaning toward the second choice. You are both getting way too weird. And gross.”Cal barked out a laugh and slid his fingers down my arm to entwine with mine. His touch, and Emma’s comments,...

She couldn’t get any farther away inside from her skin. She couldn’t get away.

So is this being in love? I stay with the moment, waiting to find out, the space between us fluctuating with uncertainty. The only thing I am sure of is that each time his lips...

A complex world of intrigues and power play among couples hascombined to deny young people the love and attention they trulydeserve, more and more teenagers are leaving home to peer up withbad influence which eventually...

Seriously, this old woman had no idea how close she came to being squashed like a roach. -Sage Hannigan, Contingency

Sometimes I think I’m an alien that accidentally fell off the mother ship, destined to wander among clueless earthling parents for all eternity.

You were saying?

All that matters is me and this sweet boy who thinks I’m beautiful.

Some people were simply created with the right genes and the proper social skills, I figured. They ended up at a lunch table with a group of good-looking individuals, like them, who did what all...

Best friends make the worst enemies, they know all your secrets and how to hurt you the most.

I could still feel the echo of his hand on mine.

You wouldn’t believe how boring of a job it is, tasting food to make sure it isn’t poisoned.

Do you … still believe?”Our very presence here, a Polynesian goddess sitting next to a Zulu thunder god, listening to the song of a Greek siren, should be proof enough that religions can and do...

Not for the first time, I wonder what it would feel like that, to be so beautiful that you don’t even realize people are watching you, to be so confident that you don’t even have...

I hate when counselors and teachers blame everything on low self-esteem in teens. Some of us actually have self-esteem, believe it or not. And when we make mistakes, it’s not because of a defect in...

Intense sunlight rained down on a half-submerged city. Waves crashed between buildings that stood like waterlogged tombstones. Skyscrapers of smashed glass and twisted rusting metal jutted from the churning swell as islands of broken dreams....

You can never trust a Vampire, child.

Do I look that bad?’ I said, my voice quavering with the rejection that I was ashamed for even caring about. ‘Is that what this is all about? How ugly I look?’Patrick kept his eyes...

After that, a strange thing happened: Amy couldn’t stop her expectations from rising. She imagined herself transformed and beautiful, like Molly Ringwald in Pretty in Pink, with her homemade dress and mysterious lace boots. She...

I write to get ideas out of my head

I know what you’re thinking. ‘How the hell does this broke ass piece of trailer trash know words like caveat,’ right? Well guess what? I’ve read every single book on the New York Times list...

Okay, Boomer, you’re right. I liked ‘Ooh… a girl!’ much more than that. Let’s stick with ‘Ooh… a girl!

Some guys are worth breaking the rules for.

I don’t like hope very much. In fact, I hate it. It’s the crystal meth of emotions. It hooks you fast and kills you hard. It’s bad news. The worst. It’s sharp sticks and cherry...

Too many adults wish to ‘protect’ teenagers when they should be stimulating them to read of life as it is lived.

No wonder I want to be Robert Mitchum: big, strong, super-cool, with those Freon eyes of his. That’s who I was pretending to be a minute ago – Robert Mitchum in Out of the Past....

Stop looking at what everyone else has! You have to figure out who you are before you can be anyone!

Again Gabe looked back at Michael, hoping he was about to step in, but all he did was give him a nod. A nod? Really? I don’t need a nod. I need someone to stop...

Halfway to the house Stan stopped and turned to Jane. He put his hands on her shoulders and drew her toward him.”I’m glad we’re going steady,” he whispered.”So am I.”In spite of the reassuring weight...

Awakening Call: You’re Not in love if it carries a burden.

Not so long ago we were all a tightly knit group of friends. Too bad someone had ripped apart the stitches that held us together, unraveling the cozy blanket of our friendship and leaving just...

After a moment, he found my neck, kissing the nape, his teeth grazing my skin and causingme to make a small noise very much like a whimper. Before I could take another breath, hislips met...

You go, girl!” smirk right back. I think of CK, how he and I often sat like that. Not because we were seconds from making out or wanted to look like a couple, but just...

Hayden shouts, “To the new Teen Uprising!

I was either still dreaming or I had entered an alternate reality where I was a flippin’ insane person. I doubted I had entered an alternate reality and a quick slap to my own face...

She had worried she would break if her heart broke, but she wasn’t broken. She had lost everything, but she was not lost. It seemed a worthwhile thing to know.