Embrace Weird Quotes

“WHY DID YOU TELL PEOPLE MY ESSAY WASN’T TRUE?”

“I don’t know,” he said, breaking out in a sweat. “Because I don’t believe it. I don’t believe anyone could be so well adjusted.”

She typed. “WHY NOT?”

“You said you look at your friends’ lives and feel like your own is better, which is fine, except that you don’t have any friends.”

“HOW DO YOU KNOW THAT?”

“I sit behind you. I notice things.”

“WHAT KIND OF THINGS?”

“It’s not your fault that you don’t have any friends. You always have an aide with you. No one is going to be themselves when there’s a teacher standing right there. Plus, you talked about parties and dances, but I don’t think you’ve even been to any, so how would you know what you’re not sorry to be missing?”

He kept going. He started saying too much, telling her all the things he’d noticed—that she never said hi to other kids, that she never answered questions when people asked her things before class. “I’m not pretending I’m Mr. Popularity or anything. I’m just saying you’ve got this whole message that doesn’t seem believable. To me, anyway.”

“I CAN’T BELIEVE YOU’RE SAYING THIS.”

Her facial expressions were impossible to read. He couldn’t tell how mad she was. Probably pretty mad. “I’m sorry. You’re right. I shouldn’t have said anything. It’s none of my business. Like, none at all. I don’t know why I just said all that. I had this theory that you’re trying to be a certain kind of person, and that must be hard. But God, I’m hardly one to talk. So let’s forget the whole thing. Please. I’m sorry.”

It startled him when her machine blurted out a single word. “NO!”

“No what?”

“DON’T BE SORRY. YOU’RE RIGHT. MY GOSH, I CAN’T BELIEVE HOW RIGHT YOU ARE.”
― Cammie McGovern, Say What You Will