It's important." I could hear him moving around, adjusting things, before he came to sit beside me. "Okay," he said. "Take a look." - Sarah Dessen

I was beginning to see, though, that the unknown wasn't always the greatest thing to fear. The people who know you best can be risker, because the words they say and things they think have the potential to be not only scary but true, as well.

If there's one thing I've learned in the last few months, it's that sometimes you just have to close your eyes and jump.

She knew I could tell with one glance, one look, one simple instant. It was her eyes. Despite the thick makeup, they were still dark-rimmed., haunted, and sad. Most of all though, they were familiar. The fact that we were in front of hundreds of strangers changed nothing at all. I'd spent a summer with those same eyes-scared, lost, confused-staring back at me. I would have known them anywhere.