Quotes from Claire LaZebnik

..."And then we played Ping-Pong—" "Not pool? I always assumed he was a billiards man—I mean, it's so handy the way he keeps a stick up his—

Man, I hated not being able to figure someone out. And from the slightly uncertain look he gave me as we all went to class, I suspected he felt the same way.

But I know how this romantic stuff works: one girl's perfect guy is another girl's reject. And right now I'm glad of it.

Sometimes people say that kids with autism aren't capable of love. That's ridiculous. My son loves deeply. He's just doesn't communicate well.

The world exploded into billions of atoms, and when it rearranged itself, it may have looked the same, but really, it was a Whole New World.

But I know how this romantic stuff works: one girl's perfect guy is another girl's reject. And right now I'm glad of it.

Why are you asking me? I'm seventeen and don't know anything about what to do when you're autistic and gay.

Hilary says to her sister, "You can't eat only pie for lunch." "Just watch me." Lily plucks her ukulele out of the tote bag at her feet and strums it, singing, "Pie is fine. It's very nice/ Especially with lots of spice/ Like cinnamon and ginger too/ My sis would like it, but she's a poo." "Oh, well, that's brilliant," Hilary says. "Taylor Swift must be looking over her shoulder.

Thank you," she said. "That wasn't meant as a compliment," he said. "I was criticizing you." "That made the compliment all the more sincere," Lauren said. "You weren't trying to make one.

It occurs to me that, for all her flaws, my mother is a Very Nice Person. I go over to her and give her a hug. "What's that for?" she asks. "I don't know. Just felt like it.

It's like people have a place in their brain for normal, and they have a place in their brain for something obviously wrong, but they can't deal with something just a little bit different. And that makes them uncomfortable. And when people are uncomfortable, they act like jerks.

But can someone tell you you're in love? Or do you just have to know it at a gut level? And if you can't identify it, does it even really exist?

We were alone in the dark, even though the enormous theater was filled with probably a thousand people. We were a tiny island in a sea of other people who didn't matter, who had no meaning, who were so stupid, so oblivious, so stuck in their own boring lives that they didn't even notice the huge, momentous, life-shattering event that was taking place right there in row L, between seats 102 and 104.

No one's family is normal. Normalcy is a lie invented by advertising agencies to make the rest of us feel inferior.

I got lost in him, and it was the kind of lost that's exactly like being found.

Basically, the world is a giant shithole. But some of us are capable of imagining something better.

He was wearing a plain white oxford unbuttoned over a T-shirt, but something about the way they fit made him look put together, like an Abercrombie model (well, like an Abercrombie model who had remembered to put on a shirt that morning).

Everyone at Coral Tree Prep was good-looking. Really. Everyone. I didn't see a single fat or ugly kid all morning. Maybe they just locked them up at registration and didn't let them out again until graduation.

Juliana's a year older than me, but she sometimes seems younger - mostly because she's the opposite of cynical and I'm the opposite of the opposite of cynical.

Man, I hated not being able to figure someone out. And from the slightly uncertain look he gave me as we all went to class, I suspected he felt the same way.

I cursed myself not only for forgetting to turn my phone off but for ever thinking that having a rock music ringtone was cool.

Every guy seems nice until he's not.

And Derek was... what? A pair of dark eyes that hid more than they revealed and some broad shoulders and a mouth that could be cold and thin and then suddenly widen into a generous grin just when you thought such a thing was impossible.

I want a tutor," Layla said. "It would make doing homework so much easier." "Me too," said Kaitlyn. "If Layla gets one, I get one." "No daughter of mine will ever have a tutor," Dad said. "What if we're failing a course?" asked Layla. His graying eyebrows drew together. "If you fail a single course, young lady, we will pull you out of school and get you a job scrubbing toilets for the rest of your life.