Stephanie Perkins

“Confidence, darling." He leans across the table and touches a finger to my cheek. "You could learn something from me, you know.”

“I mean, really. Who sends their kid to boarding school? It's so Hogwarts. Only mine doesn't have cute boy wizards or magic candy or flying lessons.”

“That’s the thing about depression. When I feel it deeply, I don’t want to let it go. It becomes a comfort. I want to cloak myself under its heavy weight and breathe it into my lungs. I want to nurture it, grow it, cultivate it. It’s mine. I want to check out with it, drift asleep wrapped in its arms and not wake up for a long, long time.”

“I just can't fathom why anyone would stand on a ledge when there's a respectable amount of walking space right next to it.”

“How could I wish for it for so long, only to come back and find it gone. To be here, in my technical house, and discover that home is now someplace different.”

“I have a rule.""Elaborate."The statue is still warm from the previous visitors. "I ask myself, if the worst happened—if I did get knocked up-would I be embarrassed to tell my child who his father was? If the answer is anywhere even remotely close to yes, then there's no way."He nods slowly. "That's a good rule.”

“And then there's the other thing.The thing I'm trying to ignore. The thing I shouldn't want, the thing I can't have.And he's standing in front of me right now.So what do I wish for? Something I'm not sure I want? Someone I'm not sure I need? Or someone I know I can't have?Screw it. Let the fates d”

“It gets worse. Josh tell her that he loves her. She says it back. He touches her. She touches him back. And then they're losing their virginity on the floor of her bedroom beside her pet rabbit, Isis. A rabbit.Josh literally lost his virginity in front of a metaphor for sex.”

“That guys. Sideburns. You like him?"My back squirms. "You've asked me that before.""What I meant was," he says, flustered. "Your feelings haven't changed? Since you've been”

“I don't know what I believe. I guess that makes me a Christmas Tree Agnostic.”