Readingsweetly

“Carline came to offer comfort, but I end up being the one

who wraps a blanket around her when she dozes off,
finishes doing her hair gently so she can sleep in
in the morning, parents her as best I can

before she becomes one. & I remember I have none”
― Elizabeth Acevedo, Clap When You Land

“Death." Gansey read the bottom of the card. He didn't sound surprised or alarmed. He just read the words like he would read eggs or Cincinnati.
"Great job, Maura," Calla said. Her arms were crossed firmly over her chest. "You going to interpret that for the kid?"
"Possibly we should just give him a refund," Persephone suggested, although Gansey had not yet paid.”
― Maggie Stiefvater, The Raven Boys

“I had a theory that our school was divided
by how we were programmed to live.
There were those of us like
Kitty, Ashok, and Laurel,
careful and contented,
pragmatic and happy.
They existed to wake up tomorrow,
always a new day,
because wasn't that the way we were
supposed to exist
as humans?
To keep living.

Then there were those of us who lived
differently.
Jordan, Miranda, and me.
We charged forward.
We took risks.
We strived for greatness
in every moment,
because every night we fell asleep thinking
this was it;
there wasn't going to be
a tomorrow.

But every morning
when the alarm clock went off,
we would lie in our beds,
shocked
that despite everything we did
the previous day
to run our bodies
into the ground,
we continued
to wake up.

Ben was one of us.
He hid it so well,
and I loved him
and I hated him
for being this way.

He pretended he was happy
when he was sad.
He pretended he didn't care
about anything,
not college,
not grades,
quite often,
not even me.

He pretended everything
would magically work
in his favour.

He denied that he understood me at all.
"Why do you have to study all the time?
Why can't you come over?"
he would plead on the phone.

But he aced the same tests as me.
He studied when no one was looking.
He fretted about his future
when no one was around.
He worried about his worth
alone,
like the rest of us.

pages 229-232”
― Juleah del Rosario, 500 Words or Less

“Over the past few years he’d seen a lot of things: destiny, prophecy, magic, monsters, fate. But he’d never yet run across a coincidence”
― Rick Riordan, The Son of Neptune