Alecia Whitaker > Quotes

“Obsessing over a boy makes the time fly.”
― Alecia Whitaker, The Queen of Kentucky

“(My momma + curvy roads= wear your seat belt.”
― Alecia Whitaker, The Queen of Kentucky

“And although I wish his heart were pure gold, I guess I've always known that it's more of the brass variety.”
― Alecia Whitaker, The Queen of Kentucky

“And Seriously,I'm still small enough to totally destroy everyone at hide and seek. Lame? Or kind of awesome? You decide.”
― Alecia Whitaker, The Queen of Kentucky

“I'm second string to a true, actual, just-moved-here new girl. Mackenzie's from Minnesota, says her O's in a really weird way, and already has more friends than I do.”
― Alecia Whitaker, The Queen of Kentucky

“Nothing sexy," interjects Momma, the ever-present buzz skill.”
― Alecia Whitaker, The Queen of Kentucky

“High school is depressing enough."
I tend to agree.”
― Alecia Whitaker, The Queen of Kentucky

“That boy shakes me upside down and inside out.”
― Alecia Whitaker, Wildflower

“Well, I don't know," he starts, looking down and then up again, anywhere but at me. "Like, for example, your new clothes, it's like a whole new you. You dress more like those girls now."
"I just want to look nice!" I defend myself.
"No,not that that's a bad thing, Ricki Jo!" he says, glancing down at me and then back over his shoulder. "You look great. Really pretty, actually.Just, you didn't care before and you were still"-he stammers on-"y-you know...pretty.”
― Alecia Whitaker, The Queen of Kentucky

“Lying there, looking up at the stars, I took a few major cuss words out for a test drive before I started to cry.”
― Alecia Whitaker, The Queen of Kentucky

“I stay quiet; I don't want anyone to get the wrong idea.I'm still mad.”
― Alecia Whitaker, The Queen of Kentucky

“I pound my fist into my palm, furrowing my brow.My dad chokes on his dessert. I am emboldened.
"I want to wear the maroon and gold-the same maroon and gold you two wore when you fell in love all those years ago. Without that maroon and gold, you never would have fallen in love at prom, and I never would have been born. I am maroon and gold."
The drama builds.
"I have spirit! Yes I do! I've got spirit, how 'bout you?" At this, I wildly wave fierce spirit fingers and heartily attempt the splits.
Key word: attempt.
"Ow!" I cry, my crotch a foot from the floor, pain burning my groin.
At this, neither of my parents can hold it anymore and, along with their eye rolling and head shaking, there is gut-wrenching laughter. I fall over to one side-sweet relief.”
― Alecia Whitaker, The Queen of Kentucky

“Fuming, I reach for the stick at my feet; however, this is the precise moment that a small black garter snake slithers out in front of me. I do what any normal fourteen-year-old girl would do: scream my head off, dance in spastic horror, and throw my tobacco knife into the dirt-completely missing the snake. I look to Luke for help, but he's laughing hysterically, which really gets my already hot blood boiling. Wrists on sweaty forehead, breathing totally out of control, I walk around in a circle until the disgusting little reptile slithers away.
I am-offically-over it.”
― Alecia Whitaker, The Queen of Kentucky

“For one thing,I have school tomorrow. Two,my right leg is still in Sasquatch mode.”
― Alecia Whitaker, The Queen of Kentucky

“Yeah, we've got a few stoplights, but I personally think they're just for show. Stop signs usually do the trick. Breckinridge, Kentucky. The epicenter of Nowheresville, USA.”
― Alecia Whitaker, The Queen of Kentucky

“Now it's just that dishwater blond," my mom continued as she snaps the last roller into place.
I get up and kiss her on the cheek. "Thanks, Momma," I say, looking in the mirror over the mantel to check my pink plastic Afro head. Dishwater? Seriously? Way to build the self-esteem before the most important day of my life, I think; but what I say is, "I'm gonna go get ready for bed.”
― Alecia Whitaker, The Queen of Kentucky

“The eight count is brilliant, and Mackenzie's smile-and-nod method, although a bit perkier than the one I've been using at school, is a tool with which I am already comfortable. There are a few moments of borderline flailing, but overall I gallop off court feeling okay.
My tumbling pass is another story.”
― Alecia Whitaker, The Queen of Kentucky

“I guess he sees the mortified look on my face-Can I get a little bedside manner here?-because he awkwardly pats the sides of my arms and tried to smile.”
― Alecia Whitaker, The Queen of Kentucky

“Oh, great.Round two of Knowing Your Body, By Debbi Winstead.”
― Alecia Whitaker, The Queen of Kentucky

“I wait for my dad to walk away before pulling back the covers and getting out of bed. Not exactly a Hallmark father-daughter moment.”
― Alecia Whitaker, The Queen of Kentucky

“I see a human form coming toward me, arms outstretched. Assuming that form to be naked, I duck and back up so as not to get groped by one of my zombie friends,only to back my bare heinie into someone else.
"Ahh!" Mackenzie screams.
"Ahh!" I scream right back.
Ohmygosh, ohmygosh, ohmygosh. My eyes are adjusting, and I see that all five of us are jumping up and down and screaming. We would usually hug or fall into some kind of laughing pileup in this kind of situation,but in our current state, we insteadt sort of cover our chests with one forearm and slap at the air in front of us with the other. Then we all start shushing one another, terribly afraid of waking up anyone else in the house.
Kimi opens the door to the family room and we peek out. No sign of human life in the kitchen. I spooked myself in there only a few minutes ago, and now I'm about to run headlong into this very same nightmare naked. What is wrong with me?”
― Alecia Whitaker, The Queen of Kentucky

“That's stupid," Luke says sharply, totally out of character, and shoots Laura a look that makes her flush red. "First of all, she's not ugly-pretty, she's just normal pretty. What a dumb thing to say. And second, she's different from the average girl 'cause she doesn't even need makeup."
Silence. Luke looks down at his arm and twirls the leather strap around his wrist. I nudge him, and when he looks up at me, I mouth Thank you, not trusting my voice since an unexpected lump has found its way to my throat.”
― Alecia Whitaker, The Queen of Kentucky

“It was awful," I tell Luke at his locker. It's on the other side of the hall and I really feel like the air is cleaner over here or something. I almost suffocated trying to stuff my book bag into my own locker, squeezed right between Kimi and her voluptuousness and Wolf and his sexual-awakening-me-ness.”
― Alecia Whitaker, The Queen of Kentucky

“I lean up on my elbows and see Luke and Bessie,who trump both the stick and me as Bandit races toward them, Bessie already running in the opposite direction.She's got a good game of hard to get going on,and Mr. Needy Dog is suddenly all "Ricki Jo who?" (He can call me that-we have history.)”
― Alecia Whitaker, The Queen of Kentucky

“I am very self-conscious as I step over the backpacks strewn in the aisle. Do not fall.Do not fall.”
― Alecia Whitaker, The Queen of Kentucky

“She is waiting for me when I step outside of school at the end of the day, her sturdy frame standing by the passenger door of my papaw's small truck, waving. Yes,waving-ildly, with both arms in the air,and catching herself on the door when she loses her balance.
Mortified,I attempt a nonchalant wave to the other girls on my squad. Practice actually went well today.I like the girls and I'm on top of all the pyraminds, which is cool.
What is not cool is my grandmother shouting my name and motioning at me like an escaped mental patient who has taken a day job landing planes.I sprint over to their truck, which is parked diagonally across to handicapped spots, as quickly as I can.
"I'm here, gosh! Stop yelling," I say.
"Comee here, baby," she says, and before I know it, she's pressing me against her massive bosom in a bear hug, slapping my back and cooing into my ear. "You're Mamaw's baby, ain't ya? Yes, Mamaw's sure happy to see you."
There is no escape.Because I am too short and scrawny and no match for her brute grandchild-love strength, I wait it out.”
― Alecia Whitaker, The Queen of Kentucky

“Not "I'm sorry,Ericka," or "I suck," or "I lost all the feeling in my fingers and couldn't dial a telephone." Nothing!
I can't believe what I'm hearing.In fact, I can't believe what I'm not hearing.”
― Alecia Whitaker, The Queen of Kentucky

“It's clearing up."
"Yeah.But work's boring without you there to complain about it," he teases.”
― Alecia Whitaker, The Queen of Kentucky

“He's still blabbing about how much he hates Mark Watts and now sucky he is at basketball (Who cares?),which I interpret as Blah,blah,kill me now, blah, blah, my life is over, blah, blah, blah.”
― Alecia Whitaker, The Queen of Kentucky

“Oh,you talking to me now?" I ask.
"What?" he aks innocently, his cocoa eyes ide. "You noticed my silencio treatment in Spanish class?" He takes his shot,sinking it.
"Yeah,I noticed when I had to do Actividad twenty-to by myself,as both waiter and customer," I say, catching the ball and passing it back to him.”
― Alecia Whitaker, The Queen of Kentucky