Their Friendship Was More Important Than Any

Alice Started To Cry. It Came With No Sound, No Shuddering, No Childlike Hysterics, Just A Soul-deep Release That Turned Into Moisture And Dripped Down Her Puffy Pink Cheeks. She Touched Her Tears, Frowning. Then She Looked Up At Julia And Whimpered Two Words Before She Fell Asleep. ‘real Hurts.’

Caro: "bite Me." Ruby: "i Gave That Up In Kindergarten.

He Was Afraid That The Secrets She'd Kept Would Always Be Here, Inside Him, An Ugly Malignant Thing Lodged Near Enough To His Heart To Upset Its Rhythm, And Though It Could Be Removed, Cut Out, There Would Always Be Scars; Bits And Pieces Of It Would Remain In His Blood, Making It Wrong Somehow, So That If He Accidentally Sliced His Skin Open, His Blood Would--for One Heartbeat--flow As Black As India Ink Before It Remembered That It Should Be Red.

It Is A Kiss That, Once Begun, Never Really Ends. Interrupted, Yes. Paused, Certainly. But From That Very Moment Onward, Vera Sees The Whole Of Her Life As Only A Breath Away From Kissing Him Again. On That Night In The Park, They Begin The Delicate Task Of Binding Their Souls Together, Creating A Whole Comprising Their Separate Halves.

What I Know Now About Life Is This: Your Mother Is A Part Of Everything You Do And Everything You Are.