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1 " You can’t control how other people hurt you, Ashley. But you can control how you hurt yourself. "
― Aimee L. Salter , Every Ugly Word
2 " People you love should always be more important than people who judge you. "
3 " I believe that human beings have a tendency to live up to expectations: what we expect of ourselves, what we believe others expect of us. I believe we all fit our lives to those patterns. And I wonder if that hasn’t been part of your problem. You make choices based on how you perceive others expect you to behave. You—perhaps subconsciously—draw their attention to your flaws. "
4 " I’d decided to keep fighting, keep searching for answers. Because as long as I did that, there would always be a chance my holes would heal. I could have hope. My gaps only became inevitable when I stopped believing they could be filled. Because that’s when I’d sit back and let life pile on the crap. Like she did. As long as I had hope, the good things would stay good. So, no, I’d never be a kick-ass movie heroine. But I was real. And loveable. And for now, that was enough. A Note from the Author Bullying is a unique form of torture. "
5 " Because this isn’t the movies, Doc. In the real world, when a seventeen-year-old guy gets a love letter from his best friend, he doesn’t suddenly decide to love her back. He runs screaming. "
6 " It isn’t what happens to you in your life that destroys you. It’s what you do about it. "
7 " You have to keep going. You have to. If you push through this, you’ll show them. You’ll show them you didn’t deserve this. "
8 " About how guys and girls can’t ever really be just friends. I mean, how many times do I make friends with girls just to see if I want to date them? "
9 " Even if Matt loved me for the rest of his life, and never so much as blinked in the direction of another woman, there’d still be pain in our past. Fear that we might let each other down again. "
10 " About your incident. "
11 " I don’t know. Girls are just . . . weird,” Matt grumbled. “You’re ready to forgive Dex at the drop of the hat, but you’re pissy with me because I don’t want you to get hurt. Karyn’s annoyed because I took you home last night, even though she told me to. And Mom’s mad because I’m not talking to Dad. But you all smile and tell me everything’s fine. What is it with you? Why are you mad all the time and pretending you aren’t? "
12 " I’d decided to keep fighting, keep searching for answers. Because as long as I did that, there would always be a chance my holes would heal. I could have hope. My gaps only became inevitable when I stopped believing they could be filled. Because that’s when I’d sit back and let life pile on the crap. "
