Aristotle and Dante Dive into the Waters of the World (Aristotle and Dante, #2)

by Benjamin Alire Sáenz

I thought he was only going to teach me how to swim in the waters of this swimming pool. Instead, he taught me how to dive into the waters of life.

I carry Dante’s name with me, he will be the torch to light my way in the darkness that is Aristotle Mendoza.

But there was a difference between the art of running and the art of running away.

Sometimes I had beautiful words living inside of me and I just couldn’t push those words out so that other people could see they were there.

“You’ll never be camp, Ari.”

Sometimes silence was the only song worth singing.

“I don’t think you’re a saint. I don’t think saints make love to other boys. But sometimes I do think you’re some kind of angel.” “Angels don’t make love to other boys either.” “Well, maybe some of them do.”

If we’re lucky. If we’re very lucky, the universe will send us the people we need to survive.

That’s the thing about friends. Each one of them is different. And each friend knows something about you that your other friends don’t know. I guess a part of being friends is that you share a secret with each one of them. The secret doesn’t have to be a big secret. It could just be a little one.

I thought I was his favorite book. Which scared me. Sometimes, when he looked at me, it was like electricity shot right through me.

to love was one thing. To let yourself be loved, well, that was the most difficult thing of all.