Quotes from Maureen Johnson

I realize Jubilee is a bit of a stripper name. You probably think I have heard the call of the pole.

It was a bit on the frantic side, maybe because neither one of us had done the metal preparation, so we were both thinking, Oh, right! Kissing! Quickly! Quickly! More movement! Deploy tongue!

I could envision it all to clearly: Stuart or Debbie finding the dented door off its hinges, lying in the snow. She came in, ravaged the boy, stole plastic bags, and ripped off the door in her escape, the police would say in the APB. Probably making her way to bust her parents out of jail.

They weren't pressed together as closely as normal, but his shoulder bumped hers, then remained there. It was very subtle, and possibly even accidental, but it was enough.

Sometimes it is worth any amount of suffering just to prevent giving your parents the opportunity to be right.

You're...a demon hunter?' 'It's not as exciting as it sounds,' he said. 'There is a surprising amount of paperwork involved.

He looked a bit more confused by Stevie and David, but nodded politely. "I'm a watch ad," David said. "She's a hipster grandpa. Together, we solve crime.

How does this keep happening to you?" David said. "Because I look," Stevie replied. "A lot of things happen when you go out and do them on purpose.

I always wanted stories to be real, so I started writing my own.

QUESTION EVERYTHING; STAND BACK, I'M GOING TO TRY SCIENCE!; I REJECT YOUR REALITY AND SUBSTITUTE MY OWN.

It was as if the news itself wanted to reassure me. Even Jack the Ripper himself had reappeared as part of the greeting committee.

You want to play? Ellis yelled. All right, then! I played a lot of video games as a kid, bitches! There! Oliver yelled. That way! Toward Boulevard Périphérique. There! There! The car swerved abruptly to the right. Ginny heard Keith swear for a solid ten seconds.

It's funny when you smile, she said. It's like a rainbow on a cloudy day. Don't ever say that to me again.

Last things were so strange. Most people had no control over of what their last acts would be.

You probably don't like snow, right?' 'Oh, I like it,' Nate said. 'Snow makes it socially acceptable to stay in.

Something about her suggested that her leisure activities included wrestling large woodland animals and banging bricks together.

I don't know if there is actually more rain here in England, or if it was just that the rain seemed to be so deliberately annoying. Every drop hit the window with a peevish Am I bothering you? Does this make you cold and wet? Oh, sorry.

She's gone. Been gone for ages. They split up right after you left. That's why the grass out front started growing again. He's got a new girlfriend? she said quietly. Thank god. You must be happy. Yeah. He does. It's a relief. She's a lot nicer. But then, your average angry snake is nicer than Fiona. I'm sure she's happier wherever she is now, burning orphans or whatever she does with her time.

Shock is a funny thing. Things get both sharp and fuzzy. Time stretches and distorts. Things come rushing into focus and seem larger than they are. Other things vanish to a single point.

Sometimes I feel like I've been waiting for someone to tell me when I can be normal again,' she said. 'I keep thinking I'll get a letter. Or a call. When does it happen?' Pete looked like he wanted to walk toward her, but then he fell back against the car. The staring contest between them for almost a minute, and finally Pete exhaled loudly. It's okay,' he said.

This kind of thing always amazed Ginny--people who just walked away from institutions. People who left school when they didn't see the point. Aunt Peg had done that. Ginny knew she never would. That either made her someone who worked hard and finished things, or someone who didn't have the guts to break away from the pack. Maybe both.

There are reasons for everything, even if we don't know them, Stevie said. Motive. Okay, Nate said. My motive is that I prefer dragons. To what? To the absence of dragons.

She firmly held the theory that everyone gets at least one very stupid superpower.

That was something they taught you in anxiety therapy- the thoughts may come, but you don't have to chase them all. It was sort of the opposite of good detective work, in which you had to follow every lead.