Melissa Carpenter

“Three things?” I ask. “I read about it in a book. Seems like a good way to get to know someone. Having to choose three things.”
― Julie Buxbaum, Hope and Other Punch Lines

“I nodded toward Cade’s wrist. “I’m sorry.”

“It’s fun. I get a man bracelet.”

I smiled. “I don’t think you get to keep it. She’s just using you as her model.”

“Her model?”

“It’s a fact, not a compliment.”

“Because if you gave me a compliment you might have a stroke.”

I laughed. “Probably not a stroke, but my brain would definitely revolt in some way.”

He didn’t laugh along with me, just looked at the cording on his wrist.

“Oh, stop, you don’t need me to tell you that you’re hot to know that it’s true.”

“Are you okay? Did that hurt your head?” Cade asked.

I kicked his foot with mine and he laughed.

“So you think I’m hot?” Cade’s eyes sparkled.

“Doesn’t every girl?”

It surprised me when his cheeks turned a light shade of pink. I wasn’t sure why that embarrassed him in any way. I was positive he already knew it. He ran one hand through his hair. Then he said, almost too quiet for me to hear, “You’re not every girl.”
― Kasie West, P.S. I Like You

“And here in this room, I re-experience the memories again and again it is how wisdom comes and how we shape our future.”
― Lois Lowry, The Giver

“If no one saw them, no one could help them. And maybe the world needed to see what was really happening here.”
― Alan Gratz, Refugee