Something in the Way (Something in the Way, #1)

by Jessica Hawkins

They were always looking over or around me to see her.

It was dumb how Tiffany and her friends wore hangovers like gold medals.

“You don’t like to feel out of control. I’m the same, but you have to know when to let go or you’ll drive yourself crazy.”

Was it dishonest not to volunteer information?

As long as I sat there being my quiet, innocent self, they could carry on with their lives.

I knew he was proud, but it felt good to hear him say it once in a while.

Family shouldn’t mean an automatic free pass to treat others like shit.

“Is that really the reason you want her there? Or is it because it looks bad for you and me to be friends?”

“You make me smile, Lake. Nobody else does. How could I walk away from you?”

Maybe he thought I was fishing for a compliment, and I was, so why couldn’t he just tell me I was pretty, too?

“Will you help?” “You can do it,” I said. “I know. I want your help.”

Lake instead of nicotine.

Words were like money, not worth wasting when it wouldn’t get me anywhere.

The difference between Lake and every other person I’d come across the past eight years was that it felt as if her goodness could actually be enough to heal my ugliness.