Laekan Zea Kemp > Quotes

“Because the truth was I was tired. I was tired of fighting but more importantly I was tired of losing, of being disappointed.”
― Laekan Zea Kemp, The Girl In Between

“People don’t exist in just the light or the dark. They exist in the contrast. In the shadows where the two overlap.”
― Laekan Zea Kemp, The Girl In Between

“That was one of the worst things about being sick. Someone was always waiting on you, which meant disappointing people was inevitable.”
― Laekan Zea Kemp, The Girl In Between

“But maybe I could give myself something too—permission to keep trying. Even when it felt like it was all for nothing. Even if trying was all I ever did, I shouldn’t stop.”
― Laekan Zea Kemp, The Girl In Between

“My lip trembled, my throat raw, and I started to cry. But not because I didn’t look perfect. But because I looked healthy and because I wasn’t sure how long I’d stay that way.”
― Laekan Zea Kemp, The Girl In Between

“Then he kissed her without breathing, without thinking. He kissed her until his entire body was tingling from the taste of her.”
― Laekan Zea Kemp, The Things They Didn't Bury

“Because for every girl in the history of girls there is always that one guy she can’t seem to shake. Even though she knows he’s not just bad for her but probably the worst thing.”
― Laekan Zea Kemp, The Girl In Between

“If I had to pull an all-nighter studying for a test or too many looming deadlines had me pulling out my hair, I wouldn’t end up with just some trendy coffee addiction. I’d end up in a mini-coma, face down in the middle of the studio or on the floor of the community showers.”
― Laekan Zea Kemp, The Girl In Between

“Time is a false thing, meaningless when it's not attached to colors and people and light because in the dark there is nothing - only the stilted shadows of lie as they wait for the sun.”
― Laekan Zea Kemp, The Things They Didn't Bury

“People weren't made for this kind of thing, he said, the way I feel about you, how much I feel, no one ever has or ever will even come close to it.”
― Laekan Zea Kemp, The Things They Didn't Bury

“You’re still just waiting,” she said. “And so is my mom. Who’d want a lifetime of waiting?” I stared at the soft lines of her lips. “Someone who knows what it is they’re waiting for.”
― Laekan Zea Kemp, The Girl In Between

“You know I’ll be right there with you if you want to go to Germany.  Or if you don’t, I’ll be right there too.” “I know,” I said. “You always are.” “And I always will be.” Hot tears pricked at my lashes. I blinked. Because she was wrong. Because she would get older and so would I. She wouldn’t always be there. Whether I still needed her or not, she wouldn’t always be there.”
― Laekan Zea Kemp, The Girl In Between

“The gypsies were a special breed. It wasn't blood that flowed through their veins but rhythm.”
― Laekan Zea Kemp, The Things They Didn't Bury

“the”
― Laekan Zea Kemp, The Girl In Between

“He was the color of a hydrangea before it blooms, wilting like one too, every inch of him sunken and bruised.”
― Laekan Zea Kemp, The Girl In Between

“Money isn’t everything and happiness is relative.”
― Laekan Zea Kemp, The Girl In Between

“You’re not going to disappear,” I said. “I won’t let you”.
“Even if this is all there is? Going to school and working at my uncle’s restaurant and fighting with Mari? Why would anyone want to remember this?”
“I want to remember you. Just like this.”
She rolled onto her back, hands covering her face, and I pulled them away.
“People like you don’t disappear,” I said.
“Then where do they go?”
“Everywhere.”
― Laekan Zea Kemp, Breathing Ghosts

“Something like hope begins to burn in me and I try to snuff it out.”
― Laekan Zea Kemp, The Things They Didn't Bury

“Fear, they had come to realize, not machines, is the most powerful weapon there is.”
― Laekan Zea Kemp

“Dani’s mild eating disorder was definitely the most annoying thing about her. One Christmas break I’d gained ten pounds and went up two cup-sizes—a post episode binge that finally made me look normal, like a woman. I would have killed to hold onto that version of me and all Dani did was count calories and complain about her non-existent cellulite. She was lucky. Most people were, they just couldn’t see it.”
― Laekan Zea Kemp, The Girl In Between

“This journal will stay hidden among the dusty coverless books lining my bookshelf until the day I need to be reminded of who I really am. Then I will come for it and maybe I will read it to my son or daughter and pretend it's just another fairytale, changing every dark moment to light, conquering every villain, and replacing the ending with the one I was robbed off.”
― Laekan Zea Kemp, The Things They Didn't Bury

“I would appreciate it if you'd turn it down."
He tries to wrestle out of Pen's grasp. "It's a free country."
"I'm actually aware of that," Pen says. "Which means you are free to choose self-preservation and turn down your god-awful music. As long as one of you idiots can manage to find the volume knob. It's the little round thing about the size of your brain.”
― Laekan Zea Kemp, Somewhere Between Bitter and Sweet

“It’s comfortable and not because he makes you happy—the guy’s a total asshole—but because you already know what to expect. You already know how he’ll hurt you.”
― Laekan Zea Kemp, The Girl In Between

“that that”
― Laekan Zea Kemp, The Girl In Between

“What's the voice telling you now?" Chloe says.
I pluck the thought like a poison berry and force it to my lips. "That I can't do this."
Chloe tightens her grip on me. "And what do you say back?"
Another thought blooms on my lips, the taste this time somewhere between bitter and sweet. "That I will.”
― Laekan Zea Kemp, Somewhere Between Bitter and Sweet

“Water collapsed against my knees, tearing the beach out from under my legs.”
― Laekan Zea Kemp, The Girl In Between

“Then I peered into the hallway and I saw my mom pressed against the wall, one of my uncle’s hands gripping hers, the other tucking a strand of hair behind her ear. Her cheeks were stained, eyes red, and then he leaned in and kissed her.”
― Laekan Zea Kemp, The Girl In Between

“Steaming meat slides in our direction, Lucas leading it onto a plate before glancing up at the ticket. He reaches for his belt, covering the meat in some orange sauce and then using his gloved hands to load it with toppings from the trays in front of us. There's cilantro, onions, lime wedges, corn salsa, avocados, and chili peppers. Ten different kinds of salsa, all marked with different colored tape that read either PUSSIES, NIÑOS, BADASS MOFOS, or LOCO. I assume they're heat indexes, and Lucas tells me to fill some plastic cups with a few milds, I reach for the salsa marked PUSSIES.
"Whoa, careful." Lucas points to a bottle out of sight.
I pull it to the front and it reads GABACHOS.
"Pen..." Lucas taps the salsa I reached for first. "Took offense to the labels. Now Pussies is the hottest salsa we have.”
― Laekan Zea Kemp, Somewhere Between Bitter and Sweet

“Who’d want a lifetime of waiting?” I stared at the soft lines of her lips. “Someone who knows what it is they’re waiting for.” I”
― Laekan Zea Kemp, The Girl In Between

“dripping”
― Laekan Zea Kemp, The Girl In Between