The Truth About Forever

by Sarah Dessen

but anything can have two meanings. Like sides of a coin, it just matters how it falls.

I didn’t believe in signs. But it was hard to ignore the fact that someone, somewhere, might have wanted me to go through this again and see there was another outcome.

Everything always gets crazy at the end. You just have to keep going, regardless of how awful it gets.

Anyone can hide. Facing up to things, working through them, that’s what makes you strong.”

For a second none of us said anything, and I wondered if, in the end, this is how all disputes are settled, with a shared silence as things become equal. You take something from me, I take something from you. We all want balance, one way or another.

But if something was really important, fate made sure it somehow came back to you and gave you another chance.

There is a certain relief in things getting as bad as they could be.

“There is never,” Kristy said adamantly, “a time or place for true love. It happens accidentally, in a heartbeat, in a single flashing, throbbing moment.”

knowing it wasn’t about the finish line but how I got there that mattered.

So many Befores, but I knew my sister. She could always see the After. Of all of us, she was the best at that.