Mellissa Monteforte Jimenez

“I was afraid of you. I know that’s not what you expect to hear from someone like me. I’m the kid from West End—I must be tough, I must be a thug, I must have a gun in my home, I must be in a gang…I bet he’s killed someone, I bet his brother’s in prison. You can see why I was afraid. I was so afraid that I would get here, and that’s all you would see—a picture in your heads that was so far from the truth, but too impossible to overcome.” “I was afraid of discrimination. Of intolerance. Of ignorance. I remember the meetings the admissions board held when I was in junior high, the ones about getting rid of the scholarship program because it exposed good kids to at-risk youth. At. Risk. Youth. That phrase…it’s too small. It’s pejorative. It’s not entirely wrong. Growing up in West End made me. That risk…it toughened me up. It made me fast. It made me fight. When I was a kid, I remember hiding on the floor of my room on Friday nights so stray bullets wouldn’t harm me. I hated my home. I loved it. I would never choose it for someone—never wish for my child to feel the fear I did. I could never imagine growing up somewhere else. That fear made me. That fear is the reason I stand up here; the reason I pushed myself to learn, to question, to try—to argue. That fear was balanced out by faith.” ““You made me, too. You lifted me. You pushed me. You believed in me. You saw the boy from West End. I surprised you. But you—you surprised me, too“When I was afraid, you challenged me. And now, I dare you. I defy you to be great. Do not just be tradition—break tradition. As only you can.”
― Ginger Scott, The Hard Count

“Meyer stops dancing and makes space between us. "You aren't getting it. I believe in freedom. If you thought yours was threatened, I needed to support you. If that meant coming out here and getting some breathing room, great. If it meant I'd need to help you disappear, then I'd do that too." He inhales deeply. "I've seen too many people I care about die, and I don't intend to waste time wondering how life could have been. Avlyn, I love you. I don't want to be without you."...Meyer shakes his head in amazement as I step closer to him and rise up on my toes to whisper in his ear. "I'm pretty sure I love you, too." The smile I see on Meyer's lips as I pull back is wider than I've ever seen it, and he leans in and gives me a gentle kiss. If only time would freeze right now...”
― Jenetta Penner, Immersed

“fill your cup with joy. Fill it all the way to the top, and when life gets rough and dumps it out, just keep filling it back up.’”..“Keep what fills up your cup, because that’s what’s going to sustain you and help you when it spills, and maybe you’ll get lucky enough that it spills over the top with all your joys.”
― J.M. Sevilla, Summer Nights

“I hate you.” “Hate you too, Kitty Cat. So very much.” The nickname made me forget my comeback. “What? No don’t call me that?” he said in a high-pitched, nasally voice. “I don’t sound like that.” “That’s the way all women sound to me.” “You’re such a pig.” “You mean faerie prince.” “More like woodland swine.” He chuckled. “It’s so easy to rile you up. So easy.”
― Olivia Wildenstein, Rowan Wood Legends