Riot Rules (Crooked Sinners)

by Callie Hart

You made me not like myself, and I always like myself. It’s one of the many things that I’m skilled at.”

I’m thinking about Carrie. Fuming about Carrie. Obsessing over Carrie. Burning because of Carrie.

“Stop trying to save me, for fuck’s sake. Just… I want you to be real with me. That’s all I’ve wanted from the beginning. Everything’s a front with you. An argument. A game. A lie. I’m so sick of it. I just want the truth. I just want…I just want you.”

For three years, I walked the hallways and classrooms of this academy without ever noticing her once. Now, Carina Mendoza is all I can see.

“Whatever you give light to will grow, Dash. Feed something and it’ll flourish. Care enough and the fragile thing in your hands will strengthen. I have faith that you’ll give me what you can until there’s more of it to give. That’s all.”

“If the girls here are foolish enough to call me Sun God, then you are the goddess of the moon. Diana. Selene. Artemis. Luna. My pale and ethereal queen.”

“I keep waiting for this to become normal. But you’re too fucking much. I feel like I can’t catch my breath around you.”

“I am so in love with you, Carina Mendoza. I feel like I might die.”

You, bailing halfway through senior year is like his parents announcing they’re getting a divorce on Christmas fucking morning. He doesn’t know a thing about this, and I plan on keeping it that way.”