Unravel Me (Shatter Me, #2)

by Tahereh Mafi

“I’m sorry I was mad at you.” “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you the truth,” I whisper back. He nods. Scratches a spot on his nose. Looks at me. “So can we be friends again?” “You want to be friends with me?” I blink hard against the stinging in my eyes. “You’re not afraid of me?” “Are you going to be mean to me?” “Never.”

awwww this conversation is so cute! James is so adorable

He throws his arms around me. Right around my waist. Hugs me and tells me not to cry because he believes me. He believes I only hurt Adam by accident. And the little boy, too. And then he says, “But be careful today, okay? And kick some ass, too.”

i'm actually shedding tears! James is so sweet 🥹

Hope. It’s like a drop of honey, a field of tulips blooming in the springtime. It’s fresh rain, a whispered promise, a cloudless sky, the perfect punctuation mark at the end of a sentence.

Some kind of bodysuit. He’s black from head to toe, his jet-black hair and eyes a perfect match for the outfit molded to every contour of his body.

Kenji being my type 🙈

“I am just saying,” he says, hands up in mock surrender, “that if I were him? And you were my girl? And you were walking around looking like that, and I couldn’t touch you?” He looks away. Shrugs again. “I am just saying I do not envy the poor bastard.”

oh how i love Kenji 🤭

It takes all the self-control I have not to burst into laughter.

me too, girl, me too 😭

“Invisible guns, huh?” Kenji smirks. “That’s cute. I don’t think I ever went through that phase.” Adam glares at Kenji. “I have nine different weapons concealed on my body right now. Would you like to choose the one I use to shoot you in the face? Or should I?”

i can't ✋🏼😭

overcome with emotion, almost forgetting that we’re no longer allowed to live in this old, beautiful world.

Terror waves hello to me.

I feel my bones ignite. Warner is here.

He’s looking at me like I succeeded, like I shot him in the heart and shattered him,

“Tell me,” he says. “How did you escape?” I’m confused. “The first or the second time?”

“Point the gun in the right direction, Aaron. This is ridiculous.” Aaron. I almost laugh in the middle of this insanity. Warner’s first name is Aaron.

i giggled wayyyy too much 😭

have a heart, says science, but I am a monster, says society.

Kenji catches me, he’s holding me so tightly with one arm and cradling my head with his other hand and I feel like I might want to cry but for some reason I can’t. I can’t do anything but endure these tremors rocking the length of my entire frame. “We have to go,” Kenji says to me, stroking my hair in a show of tenderness I know is rare for him.

i'm melting 🫠 this is so sweet 🥹

Kenji looks at me, disbelief written across his features. “The war, princess.

I s h a t t e r what’s left of this earth.

everything stops and for a moment I can’t remember what it’s like to live in a world that isn’t falling apart.

I’m just beginning to realize that he’s one of my favorite people on this planet and I’m so happy he’s okay. I’m so happy he’s my friend.

“Just so you guys know,” Kenji interjects, “I’m still voting for the we don’t have to talk about this option. You know. Just so you know. Just putting that out there.”

KENJI ✋🏼😭

The sun and the moon and the stars called and said, “Turn down the beaming, please, because you’re making it hard for us to see,” and I didn’t listen, I just kept on beaming.

I’m starting to think that this situation is the exact antonym of excellent.

“Run, I said to myself. Run until your lungs collapse, until the wind whips and snaps at your tattered clothes, until you’re a blur that blends into the background.

“I promise you,” he says, “I never would’ve kissed you if I didn’t think you wanted me to.”

aw my heart 🥹

Smiles at me in that way I’ve only ever seen once before, looking at me like I’m the sweetest thing he’s ever decided to eat. Those dimples.

“Damn, kid, you can’t just go around slicing your hand open like that. You’re going to give me a freaking heart attack. Come here,” he says, more gently now. “Let me take a look.”

and he's good with kids!?!? i'm all for Kenji

“Holy shit on a cracker,” Kenji breathes.

i love Kenji sm 😭

“How would you like,” he says, leading James out the door, “to start spending some time with two very pretty girls....” And they’re gone. And I’m laughing.

And I think, Wow, I did it. I actually managed to die of a stroke at age 17.

i have no words 😂

Warner is one of us.

I’m staring at the mats like they’re the most fascinating things I’ve ever seen in my life.

It’s a tattoo. No pictures. Just 1 word. 1 word, typed into the very center of his upper back. In ink. IGNITE And his skin is shredded with scars.

And I realize I don’t want to be his enemy anymore.

He smiles, presses back a laugh. “A handful of letters doesn’t always make a word, love.”

I trail off, catching myself before I say much more. Horrified as I realize just how much I want to confide in him. In Warner.

hell is empty and all the devils are here

“are easily destroyed. But words will live as long as people can remember them. Tattoos, for example, are very hard to forget.” He buttons his button. “I think there’s something about the impermanence of life these days that makes it necessary to etch ink into our skin,” he says. “It reminds us that we’ve been marked by the world, that we’re still alive. That we’ll never forget.”

His smile is wide, so wide. “God, I love that.” “Your name?” “Only when you say it.”

“On the darkest days you have to search for a spot of brightness, on the coldest days you have to seek out a spot of warmth; on the bleakest days you have to keep your eyes onward and upward and on the saddest days you have to leave them open to let them cry. To then let them dry. To give them a chance to wash out the pain in order to see fresh and clear once again.”

“Nothing in this life will ever make sense to me but I can’t help but try to collect the change and hope it’s enough to pay for our mistakes.”

This blond boy has my secrets in his mouth.

something in the space between us feels different all of a sudden. Charged.

I am so horribly attracted to him.

I want to understand him. I want to unravel him.

“No one has ever looked at me like you do,” he whispers. “No one ever talks to me like you do, Juliette. You’re different,” he says. “You’re so different. You would understand me. But the rest of the world does not want my sympathies. They don’t want my smiles.

I only have two options in this game, love.” He’s breathing hard. “Kill. Or be killed.”

I realize, for the very first time, that the thought of Warner dead is anything but appealing to me. It horrifies me.

I wish I could want him dead. I wish I felt nothing for him.

“Yes,” Castle says. “We know that he, like you, can touch Juliette.”

all I know is that this can’t happen, not to Kenji, not to my funny, complicated friend who keeps secrets behind his smiles