If You Have To Keep

The Problem With All These Fiercely Individualistic Girls Was That They Were All Exactly The Same.

She Had Reached A Turning Point. She No Longer Believed That A Situation Could Be Made Better By Writing A Poem About It.

...emma Morley Wasn't Such A Paragon Either: Pretentious, Petulant, Lazy, Speechifying, Judgmental. Self-pitying, Self Righteous, Self-important, All The Selfs Except Self-confident, The Quality That She Had Always Needed The Most.

He's Laughing Me Into A Stupor, She Thought. I Could Heckle, I Suppose, I Could Throw A Bread Roll At Him, But He's Eaten Them All. She Glanced At The Other Diners, All Of Them Going Into Their Act, And Thought Is This What It All Boils Down To? Romantic Love, Is This All It Is, A Talent Show? Eat A Meal, Go To Bed, Fall In Love With Me And I Promise You Years And Years Of Top Notch Material Like This?

The City Had Defeated Her, Just Like They Said It Would. Like Some Overcrowded Party, No One Had Noticed Her Arrival, And Would Notice If She Left.