Quotes by Sarah Dessen

It was kind of soothing, these sounds of lives being lived all around me, for better or for worse. And there I was, in the middle of them all, newly reborn and still waiting for mine to begin.

I was used to being invisible. People rarely saw me, and if they did, they never looked close. I wasnt shiny and charming like my brother, stunning and graceful like my mother, or smart and dynamic like my friends. Thats the thing, though. You always think you want to be noticed. Until you are.

...You cant unlearn something, even if you want to. You know what you know.

Really, it had been stupid to expect anything anyway. A few late nights does not a habit, or a relationship, make.

He grinned again. Wed only been seeing each other for a few weeks now, but this easy give-and-take still surprised me. From that very first day in my room, I felt like wed somehow skipped the formalities of the Beginning of a Relationship: those awkward moments when youre not all over each other and are still feeling out the other persons boundaries and limits. Maybe this was because wed been circling each other for a while before he finally catapulted through my window. But if I let myself think about it much - and I didnt - I had flashes of realising that Id been comfortable with him even at the very start. Clearly, hed been comfortable with me, grabbing my hand as he had that first day. As if he knew, even then, that wed be here now.

I didnt pretend to know Eli at all, but even so, Id noticed that his manner was slightly hard to read. It was something in the way he talked that made it difficult to tell whether he was kidding or serious or what. This bothered me. Or intrigued me. Or both.

Whens something difficult to come by, youll do that much more to make sure its even harder- if not impossible- to lose.

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

Isnt it weird, I said, the way you remember things, when someones gone?What do you mean?I ate another piece of waffle. When my dad first died, all I could think about was that day. Its taken me so long to be able to think back to before that, to everything else.Wes was nodding before I even finished. Its even worse when someones sick for a long time, he said. You forget they were ever healthy, ever okay. Its like there was never a time when you werent waiting for something awful to happen.But there was, I said. I mean, its only been in the last few months that Ive started remembering all this good stuff, funny stuff about my dad. I cant believe I ever forgot it in the first place.You didnt forget, Wes said, taking a sip of his water. You just couldnt remember right then. But now youre ready to, so you can.I thought about this as I finished off my waffle.

Grieving doesnt make you imperfect. It makes you human.

Look, everyone mourns at their own pace. Maybe youre just a little bit ahead of her, but shell get to you eventually. The important thing is that you keep trying to talk to each other, even if its difficult at first. It gets easier. I promise.

Hey, and for what its worth? Friends dont leave you alone in the woods. Friends are the ones who come and take you out.

Best Friends. And I thought of what she had done all the millions of times I cried to her, collapsing at even the slightest wounding of my heart or pride. So I reached over and pulled her to me, wrapping my arms around her, and held my best friend close, returning so many favors all at once....

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

I want the white one

He wasnt what Id thought he was; maybe he never had been. I wasnt what Id thought I was, either.

I knew this feeling, the 2 a.m. loneliness that Id practically invented.

All we had was her room, her stories, and the quiet that settled in as we tried in vain to spread ourselves out and fill the space shed left behind.

Why should I even bother? Whats the point, really?He thought for a moment. Who says there has to be a point? he asked. Or a reason. Maybe its just something you have to do.

for once, you believed in yourself. you believed you were beautiful and so did the rest of the world.