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f0c2121
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I don't know what I'm doing in the next five minutes and she has the next ten years figured out. I'll worry about making it out of ninth grade alive. Then I'll think about a career path.
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Laurie Halse Anderson |
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11172d3
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Hannah was about to burst with excitement, which would have been disgusting because she would have sprayed blood, guts and glitter in every direction.
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Laurie Halse Anderson |
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99a250d
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too many grown-ups tell kids to follow their dreams like that's going to get them somewhere Auntie Laurie says follow your nightmares instead cuz when you figure out what's eating you alive you can slay it
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nightmares
slaying
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Laurie Halse Anderson |
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a537251
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My earbuds were in, but I wasn't playing music. I needed to hear the world but didn't want the world to know I was listening.
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Laurie Halse Anderson |
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5064a41
|
In one universe, they are gorgeous, straight-teethed, long-legged, wrapped in designer fashions, and given sports cars on their sixteenth birthdays. Teacher smile at them and grade them on the curve. They know the first names of the staff. They are the Pride of the Trojans. Oops - I mean Pride of the Blue Devils. In Universe #2, they throw parties wild enough to attract college students. They worship the stink of Eau de Jocque. They rent be..
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Laurie Halse Anderson |
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331e350
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She turns to us, acts surprised to see us, then does the bit with the back of the hand to the forehead. "You're lost!" "You're angry!" "You're in the wrong school!" "You're in the wrong country!" "You're on the wrong planet!"
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school
spanish-class
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Laurie Halse Anderson |
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840251d
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I like cheeseburgers too much to be a model.
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Laurie Halse Anderson |
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aea261f
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Apologies mean nothing if you don't mean it.
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Laurie Halse Anderson |
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c658c9e
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The trick to surviving an interrogation is patience. Don't offer up anything. Don't explain. Answer the question and only the question that is asked so you don't accidentally put your head in a noose.
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patience
trick
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Laurie Halse Anderson |
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d9826a3
|
I want to tell him that it's just a stupid car, but bits of me are scattered all over town; the graveyard, school, Cassie's room, the motel, and standing in from of the sink in my mother's kitchen. It takes too much energy to gather all the bits together, so I just sit there and watch him implode.
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daughters
relationships
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Laurie Halse Anderson |
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006069a
|
We turned us into wintergirls, and when she tried to leave, I pulled her back into the snow because I was afraid to be alone.
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Laurie Halse Anderson |
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75b5927
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Until then we're going to keep making memories like this, moments when we're the only two people in the whole world. And when we get scared or lonely or confused, we'll pull out these memories and wrap them around us and they'll make us feel safe. And strong.
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encouragement
loneliness
memories
safe
scared
strength
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Laurie Halse Anderson |
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e04d4da
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Yes it is, because you can only be brave if you're scared.
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good
inspirational
laurie-halse-anderson
motivational
scared
the-impossible-knife-of-memory
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Laurie Halse Anderson |
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266a9bc
|
I live in the borderlands. The word ghost sounds like memory. The word therapy means exorcism. My visions echo and multiplymultiply. I don't know how to figure out what they mean. I can't tell where they start or if they will end. But I know this. If they shrink my head any more, or float me away on an ocean of pills, I will never return.
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Laurie Halse Anderson |
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759da3e
|
Ouch," he said. "Move your foot." "No." "Go away." "Glad to see you, too." "What are you doing here?" I asked. "You missed the bus," he said. "I'm sick." "Need chicken soup?" "Actually, it's my period," I lied. "Killer cramps." "Chocolate and a heating pad?" "How do you know that?" "I have an older sister and my mom is a kick-ass feminist," he said. "I'm probably the only guy in school who can buy tampons without having a seizure. Look, at ..
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|
Laurie Halse Anderson |
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e4eb543
|
The laws of the universe dictate that for every positive action, there is an unequal and sucky reaction.
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Laurie Halse Anderson |
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ae1501f
|
I shake my head. I pick up the rake and start making the dead-leaf pile neater. A blister pops and stains the rake handle like a tear. Dad nods and walks to the Jeep, keys jangling in his fingers. A mockingbird lands on a low oak branch and scolds me. I rake the leaves out of my throat. Me: "Can you buy some seeds? Flower seeds?"
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Laurie Halse Anderson |
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b8596fe
|
I have ten bucks in my pocket - what to spend it on? French fries - ten dollars' worth of french fries, ultimate fantasy.
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|
Laurie Halse Anderson |
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eb08051
|
Why?' She nods. 'She had everything: a family who loved her, friends, activities. Her mother wants to know why she threw it all away?' Why you want to know why? Step into a tanning booth and fry yourself for two or three days. After your skin bubbles and falls off, roll in coarse salt, then put on long underwear woven from spun glass and razor wire. Over that goes your regular clothes, as long as they are tight. Smoke gunpowder and go to s..
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|
anorexia-nervosa
anorexic
self-harm
starve
suicide
why
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Laurie Halse Anderson |
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0fbaa8d
|
I am a gluttonous, gorging failure. A waste. My body isn't used to high-sugar carbs laced with witchcraft. It can barely cope with soup and crackers.
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Laurie Halse Anderson |
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c67fb60
|
I'm the only one sitting alone, under the glowing neon sign which reads, "Complete and Total Loser, Not Quite Sane. Stay Away. Do Not Feed."
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Laurie Halse Anderson |
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aefa2fe
|
There is nothing wrong with me. These are really sick people, sick that you can see.
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|
Laurie Halse Anderson |
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be4af87
|
The books I'd checked out of the library earlier in the week were still stacked on my bureau, whispering my name and begging to be read.
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|
Laurie Halse Anderson |
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a0dc571
|
I'm the girl who trips on the dance floor and can't find her way to the exit. All eyes on me.
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Laurie Halse Anderson |
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f9ddeb8
|
I see a girl caught in the remains of a holiday gone bad, with her flesh picked off day after day as the carcass dries out. The knife and fork are abviously middle-class sensibilities. The palm tree is a nice touch. A broken dream,perhaps? Plastic honeymoon, deserted island? Oh, If you put in a slice of pumpkin pie, it could be a desserted island! (Pg 64)
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|
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Laurie Halse Anderson |
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1d46ab8
|
I watch some kids ask the cafeteria ladies to sign their books. What do they write: "Hope your chicken patties never bleed?" Or, maybe, "May your Jell-O always wiggle?"
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Laurie Halse Anderson |
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3a3484f
|
Look at the stupid, poor people. Look at the stupid, poor, burned-out people. Look at the stupid, poor, burned-out people, look at their dead baby. It's death porn for the masses.
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|
humor
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Laurie Halse Anderson |
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f3f3cb4
|
The constitution does not recognize different classes of citizenship based on time spent living in the country. I am a citizen, with the same rights as your son, or you. As a citizen, and as a student, I am protesting the tone of this lesson as racist, intolerant, and xenophobic.
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|
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Laurie Halse Anderson |
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6d7f5ca
|
Sometimes I think high school is one long hazing activity: if you are tough enough to survive this, they'll let you become and adult. I hope it's worth it.
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|
|
Laurie Halse Anderson |
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6006a15
|
i decapitated dandelions all morning, leaving carnage and death strewn into my path.
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Laurie Halse Anderson |
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68727ff
|
It had been a good day, all things considered. I had managed rather well on my own. I opened Grandfather's Bible. This is what it would be like when I had my own shop, or when I traveled abroad. I would always read before sleeping. One day, I'd be so rich I would have a library full of novel to choose from. But I would always end the evening with a Bible passage.
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library
read
reading
religious
|
Laurie Halse Anderson |
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9c530e9
|
Picasso." He whispers like a priest. "Picasso. Who saw the truth. Who painted the truth, molded it, ripped from the earth with two angry hands."
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|
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Laurie Halse Anderson |
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a4dbd72
|
It's a shame we can't just admit that we failed family living, sell the house, split up the money, and get on with our lives.
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|
|
Laurie Halse Anderson |
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70eeab8
|
The bruises are vivid, but they will fade.
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|
|
Laurie Halse Anderson |
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80d9c3b
|
There is something about Christmas that requires a rug rat. Little kids make Christmas fun. I wonder if could rent one for the holidays. When I was tiny we would by a real tree and stay up late drinking hot chocolate and finding just the right place for the special decorations. It seems like my parents gave up the magic when I figured out the Santa lie. Maybe I shouldn't have told them I knew where the presents really came from. It broke th..
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christmas
innocence
santa
|
Laurie Halse Anderson |
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2fa7e39
|
I am angry that I starved my brain and that I sat shivering in my bed at night instead of dancing or reading poetry or eating ice cream or kissing a boy or maybe a girl with gentle lips and strong hands.
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|
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Laurie Halse Anderson |
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e8796d1
|
Momma said that ghosts couldn't move over water. That's why Africans got trapped in the Americas.. They kept moving us over the water, stealing us away from our ghosts and ancestors, who cried salty rivers into the sand. That's where Momma was now, wailing at the water's edge, while her girls were pulled out of sight under white sails that cracked in the wind.
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|
|
Laurie Halse Anderson |
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0fe2cf7
|
A breath of steam trickles out, filled with the sobs of a grown woman breaking into girl-sized pieces.
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|
|
Laurie Halse Anderson |
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ddc80b7
|
I doubt trees are ever told to 'be the screwed-up ninth-grader.'
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|
Laurie Halse Anderson |
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49fcc0a
|
Pie makes everybody happy.
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pie
pies
|
Laurie Halse Anderson |
|
b427a15
|
I am an owl, bird of the night. I see everything. I know everything.
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|
observer
psychology
|
Laurie Halse Anderson |
|
25e4e12
|
I sit at a table close to his desk. Ivy is in this class. She sits by the door. I keep staring at her, trying to make her look at me. That happens in movies--people can feel it when oother people stare at them and they just have to turn around and say something. Either Ivy has a great force field, or my lazer vision isn't very strong....
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|
|
Laurie Halse Anderson |
|
52d5cfd
|
How did I get like this?
|
|
eating-disorders
|
Laurie Halse Anderson |
|
ffbab05
|
The gloaming that closed over us the cemetery had crawled inside his skin.
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|
Laurie Halse Anderson |