Isabelle

“I don't know about the rest of you, but I'd be up for hearing about the one-eyed chick," Vida said with a shrug.
"You are atually the worst person I have ever met," Chubs said.
"And people like you are the reason we have middle fingers.”
― Alexandra Bracken, Never Fade

“Ugh.” Cole rolled his eyes, gave a small laugh. “In a move straight out of Lee’s playbook, I rolled over in bed this morning and hit the dresser. Already killing it this morning.”
― Alexandra Bracken, In the Afterlight

“I hesitate, hand on my seat belt buckle. I know I need to get going somewhere,
but—well, what’s the harm in scoping the area out? Making sure it’s as safe as Remy
seems to think it is?
“All right, Remy,” I say, opening the door.
“Remy,” he shoots back. “Jesus, you can’t even remember my name? The sewers
weren’t kind to you, were they?”
“Wait—what?” I ask, shutting the door, locking it. No one’s taking my Lucy.
He just looks exasperated, which just makes me confused.
“You called me Ruby,” Remy said, indignantly.
I stare at him. There’s a flutter of something wild, panicked in my chest I don’t understand and I don’t particularly want to examine. I’m tired and when I’m tired my tongue gets lazy. “Sorry. Tired. Idiot.”
― Alexandra Bracken, The Rising Dark: A Darkest Minds Collection

“You want to hear the rules?"
My heart jackhammered as I nodded. That same hand slid around my hip, up under my shirt, and felt warm and perfect against my lower back. I closed my eyes as his lips just barely brushed mine. His touch made me feel brave. It pushed the uncertainty back until it couldn't reach me. "The first one is you can't think too hard about it. The second is you say when you want to stop. The third is you do whatever feels good to you. The fourth is-"
"-you stop talking," I said, blindly reaching back to pull the door shut, "and kiss me?”
― Alexandra Bracken, In the Afterlight