“She kissed me. It was the kind of kiss that I could never tell my friends about out loud. It was the kind of kiss that made me know that I was never so happy in my whole life.”
“Normally I am very shy, but [Patrick] seemed like the kind of guy you could just walk up to at a football game even though you were three years younger and not popular.”
“You ever think, Charlie, that our group is the same as any other group like the football team? And the only real difference between us is what we wear and why we wear it?”
“Charlie. Please don’t take this the wrong way. I’m not trying to make you feel uncomfortable. I just want you to know that you’re special...and the only reason I’m telling you is that I don’t know if anyone else ever has.”
“Oldest daughter Charlie struggles to care for her sisters in the wake of the accident that took their parents, while each of the younger sisters narrates a volume of the series.”
“Her brother Charlie was sitting on the top step and Sara sat down beside him. She held out her feet, looked at them, and said, ‘I like my orange sneakers, don’t you, Charlie?”
“And it does too matter how you look, I can tell you that.′ She walked ahead angrily for a few steps, then waited for Charlie and took his hand again. ”
“Charlie sat in the sudden stillness, hunched over his knees, on the bottom step. The whole world seemed to have been turned off when Sara went into the Weiceks’ house, and he did not move for a long time. The only sound was the ticking of his watch.”