young-adult

James is why I never left. I should have left.

We could call you an ambisexual. A duosexual. A____o I really have to find a word for it?_ Kyle interrupts. __an__ it just be what it is?___f course,_ I say, even though in the bigger world I__ not so sure. The world loves stupid labels. I wish we got to choose our own.We pause for a moment. I wonder if that__ all__f he just needed to say the truth and have it heard. But then Kyle looks at me with unsure eyes and says, __ou see, I don__ know who I__ supposed to be.___obody does,_ I assure him.

I'm not myself," she offered, guiltily. She softened around Tik Tok, and when she did she was, for those rare moments, girlish.He smiled. "You can never say that. You're just a piece of yourself right now that you don't like.

Do you want some words of advice, Tess?__ glanced at Adam__ profile as he sipped.__on__ give your heart away too easily._ He turned to me. __ake him earn it.

I'm not even sure we remembered to kiss. What we had went deeper than a kiss

Well, if they set you in the kissing booth, let me know, I am always willing to donate for a worthy cause.

I__ not going,_ he said. He held up the Third key like a weapon. Sensing his mood, it grew longer and sharper, till he was holding a trident as long as he was tall... __nd anyone who tries to make me is going to suffer._ __wice,_ added the voice under the table.

He may be stronger, but I'm not defenseless. He knows that, of coarse. That's why he's here. He wants me for what I can do after all.

He looked at me now."Remember I said, 'what if I didn't want to fix your bike?'"I remembered. "Yes...""I didn't want to fix it, because I liked driving you places.

Just be careful, hon,_ Rosanna said.__h, are the plates hot?_ I flinched back just before my hands made contact.Rosanna laughed. __o, but hot boys can burn you just as easily.

But alas, the world is not a wish-granting factory.

I'm not very good at being alive. Sometimes I despair of ever mastering it, getting it right. When I'm old, perhaps.

When you think of somebody all the time it means one of two things - either you hate their guts or you like them a lot.

Two babies in little more than a year and a half. Knockout Jimmy was forced to give up boxing and take a job in the paper mill. It broke him, and in turn, he broke us all.

So if I was to choose? Then I choose complicated,_ I said, with a nod of finality. I met his eyes again in a silent challenge.__ choose you.

If there is one thing worse than self-pity, it was other people's pity.

I was so tired of this ceaseless, day-to-day tug-of-war between my hormones and my head, my vanity and my virtue. I felt very much as though I were caught in the middle of some dreadful battle in which taking a side of my own would mean certain misery in either case.

I opened the door and stepped in. Raw pain filled me at the sight of my painting. 'Show me what it looked like, before the fire.' His request surprised me, but I did as he asked. With eyes closed, I projected the exact details of the painting I had poured my soul into. Just as I had experienced his love of surfing in a visceral way, he shared not just the visual beauty of my work, but the love and passion with which I had dedicated myself to it. 'Thank you. Now, it will never truly be gone.' I choked back a sob and went to Mr. K's office.