Quotes by Hannah Harrington

Hate is... Its too easy. Love. Love takes courage.

It always struck me in years after how bizarre it was, how two people could look at one another with such tenderness and complete love, and how quickly that could dissolve into nothing but bitterness.

Some people think that a place can save them... Like if they could just be somewhere else, their lives would be totally different. They could finally be the people they always wanted to be. But to me, a place is just a place. If you really want things to change, you can make them change no matter where you are.

All of them are the same type; girls with overprocessed hair and too much makeup and way too much access to Daddy’s credit cards. Girls who, if you took away the designer labels, hair dye and cover-up, wouldn’t be more than average-looking, but with all that stuff look too plastic to be pretty.

I dont know what I believe anymore. If God does exist, then Hes just an asshole, creating this world full of human suffering and letting all these terrible things happen to good people, and sitting there and doing nothing about it. At Junes memorial service, a few people came up to me and said some really stupid things, like how everything happens for a reason, and God never gives us more than we can handle. All I could think was, does that mean if I was a weaker person, this never wouldve happened? Am I seriously supposed to buy that Junes death was part of some stupid divine plan? I dont believe that. I cant. It just doesnt make sense.

In some ways I admire Aunt Helens unwavering certainty in Gods divine plan. It must be comforting, to have faith like that. To believe so concretely that theres someone—something—out there watching guard, keeping us safe, testing us only with what we can handle. Ive never believed in anything the way Aunt Helen believes in God.

June is gone. For the first time, the enormity of that hits me. Every muscle aches, my heart most of all. I am throbbing with how much I miss her. It hurts worse than anything. I dont know how Im supposed to be expected to live day to day carrying this kind of pain. I dont know how Im supposed to go out there, spread her ashes, and let her go.I want to stop running away from everything.I want to find something to run toward.

It feels weird, being out in the real world again. Around people just living their lives like normal. Their presence is oppressive. The very fact that the world is going on as usual, like nothing ever happened, makes me want to scream. I know its irrational to expect everything to grind to a halt because of June, but still. A wave of anxiety builds in my chest, my head pounding so loud it drowns out the noise of people talking and tapping away on their laptops.

Maybe Laneys right. Maybe June did love me. But Im far less certain that she knew I loved her. Did she realise how much I needed her around? Its not like I ever told her. I was too wrapped up in my own world to notice what was going on in hers. Even if she did know, it wasnt enough to count. It wasnt enough to make her stay. So really, what did it matter, in the end? wasnt enough. Theres no excuse. There is nothing that will ever make that okay.

It must be comforting, to have a faith like that. To believe so concretely that there’s someone—something— out there watching guard, keeping us safe, testing us only with what we can handle.

I hate organized religion. I hate that people use it to justify their crappy, bigoted beliefs.

Im not saying he was, like, crying tears of man pain over the phone, but he sounded upset.

Sketchy black van? Weird stalking of my house? What are you going to do next, offer me some candy?

Stupid bitch, he spits, and thats when I mentally punch him in the face.Except it isnt just mentally—its for real, my closed fist is actually moving. It hits him square in the nose with a sickening crunch.Oh my God, Laney breathes from behind me.Oh my God, Jake says from the floor.My eyes widen. Oh my God.

No problem. Just drop it back off before you go, he says, procuring a brass key. And if he puts on Bowies early stuff and starts sweet-talking, dammit, you run. You run as fast as you can.

And even if we did, which we didnt, its none of your business.Okay.I just wanted you to know.Okay.If you say okay one more time, Im going to punch you in the solar plexus.His eyebrows jump. The solar plexus, huh?Yes, I say. Im not exactly sure where that is, but I will find out. And then I will punch you there. Hard.

Seth turns to Laney and I. Three months ago, Im in Detroit protesting a free trade conference, right? Some pig shoves me, I go flying into another, next thing I know Im on the ground with a Taser in my back. I get thrown in city jail, no money and one phone call. So I call Jake. You know what this fucker did? He dropped everything, drove up and bailed me out, no questions.Like I could just leave you, Jake says. Youre too pretty. Youre a delicate flower. They wouldve ripped you apart in there.

We should go swimming, Anna says, out of the blue.

If you really want things to change, you can make them change no matter where you are.

He took his pain and turned it into something beautiful. Into something that people connect to. And thats what good music does. It speaks to you. It changes you.