Michael

“The singing stopped when I walked in. They all turned and stared at me, Bonne-Bell-Orange-Crush-glossed mouths hanging open, looking at me with the same horror and excitement they'd exhibit it I had just walked into the room naked. I stood there frozen, hyperaware of my scruffiness, my shirt untucked and one ponytail higher than the other. The Bad Dog turned me in on myself like a vortex, gleefully saying, Look, look. There they are, here you are. Separate. You do not belong.”
― Stacy Pershall

“When people see you're happy doing what you're doing, it sort of takes the power away from them to tease you about it.”
― Wendy Mass, Every Soul a Star

“I’m proud of you, son,” he said. “I guess it has finally sunk in that it’s important to stand up for yourself in this world.”
Rocky shook his head. “It’s more important to stand up for someone who can’t stand up for herself,” he had answered.
Rocky Ryan speaking with his father.”
― Karen Mueller Coombs, Bully at Ambush Corner

“Life is a chain of choices. Making the correct one is never easy.”
“That’s for sure,” agreed Rocky.
“But if we didn’t make difficult choices, right or wrong,” said Mr. Veraldi, “we wouldn’t learn anything worth knowing." Rocky Ryan and his viola teacher, Mr. Veraldi, in Bully at Ambush Corner.”
― Karen Mueller Coombs, Bully at Ambush Corner