Annette

“Have you ever heard of Blue Streak?"
I blink at him. "That's the name of a movie?"
"Romeo Must Die? Bad Boys? Rush Hour? Rush Hour 2? Rush Hour 3? Actually, Rush Hour 3 wasn't that great. Tangled?
"That last one, I believe, is a cartoon about a girl with very long hair, inspired by the German fairy tale Rapunzel."
Kenji looks like he might be choking. "A cartoon?" he says, outraged. "Tangled is not a cartoon. Tangled is one of the greatest movies of all time. It's about fighting for freedom and true love.”
― Tahereh Mafi, Defy Me

“Somehow, I’ve become a magnet for pain. Other people’s pain. My own pain. The thing is, I have no one to blame but myself. I ask the follow-up questions that land me here. I care too much. I make it my business when I shouldn’t, and I only ever seem to get shit for it.”
― Tahereh Mafi, Shadow Me

“With her, it’s different. I never even realized just how much I was missing until we really got to know each other. She lets me talk. She doesn’t rush me. She doesn’t tell me to calm down or feed me bullshit lines or tell me everything will be fine. When I’m trying to get things off my chest she doesn’t make the conversation about her or her own problems. She understands. I can tell. She doesn’t have to say a word. I can look into her eyes and know she gets it. She gives a shit about me in a way no one else ever has.”
― Tahereh Mafi, Reveal Me

“I'm so happy for my friends. I love them, even when they piss me off. I care about them. I want their joy. But it still hurts a little when it feels like, everywhere I look everyone seems to have someone.
Everyone but me.
It's crazy how much I wish I didn't care. I wish, so much, all the time, that I didn't give a shit about this sort of thing”
― Tahereh Mafi, Shadow Me