In the end....everything matters.Collection: Matter
After all, how often do we get a second chance?Collection: Second Chance
I wanted people to trust me, despite anything they'd heard. And more than that, I wanted them to know me. Not the stuff they thought they knew about me. No, the real me. I wanted them to get past the rumors. To see beyond the relationships I once had, or maybe still had but that they didn't agree with.Collection: Real
It's important to be aware of how we treat others. Even though someone appears to shrug off a sideways comment or to not be affected by a rumor, it's impossible to know everything else going on in that person's life, how we might be adding to his/her pain. People do have an impact on the lives of others; that's undeniable.Collection: Pain
This time, for the first time, I saw the possibilities in giving up. I even found hope in it.Collection: Giving Up
Because no, I didn’t push her away. I didn’t add to her pain or do anything to hurt her. Instead, I left her alone in that room. The only person who might’ve been able to reach out and save her from herself. To pull her back from wherever she was heading. I did what she asked and I left. When I should have stayed.Collection: Hurt
And what about you-the rest of you-did you notice the scars you left behind? No. Probably not. Because most of them can't be seen with the naked eye.Collection: Eye
A flood of emotions rushes into me. Pain and anger. Sadness and pity. But most surprising of all, hope.Collection: Pain
Maybe it's not as important to you as it was for me, but that's not for you to decide.Collection: Important
I didn't feel physically sick. But mentally. My mind was twisting in so many ways. (...) We once saw a documentary on migraines. One of the men interviewed used to fall on his knees and bang his head against the floor, over and over during attacks. This diverted the pain from deep inside his brain, where he couldn't reach it, to a pain outside that he had control over.Collection: Pain
Because when you're posed, you know someone's watching. You put on your very best smile. You let your sweetest personality shine.Collection: Personality
We all know the sound a camera makes when it snaps a picture. Even some of the digitals do it for nostalgia’s sake.Collection: Cameras
And as I stood there in the hallway―alone―trying to understand what had just happened and why, I realized the truth: I wasn't worth an explanation―not even a reaction. Not in your eyes.Collection: Eye
Maybe if I forgot things once in a while, we'd all be a little bit happier.Collection: Littles
I waited a second. Should I? No... but I will.Collection: Should
It may seem that every time someone offers you a hand up, they just let go and you slip further down.Collection: Letting Go
You don't know what goes on in anyone's life but your own.Collection: Goes On
I don't know exactly what it is, but it looks like interconnected websites where people show their photos and write about everything going on in their lives, like whether they found a parking spot or what they ate for breakfast." "But why?" Josh asks.Collection: Writing
Don't give up on me now. I'm sorry. I guess that's an odd thing to say. Because isn't that what I'm doing? Giving up?Collection: Giving Up
I was too weak to walk. At least, I thought I was too weak. But in truth, I was too weak to try.Collection: Trying
My heart and my trust were in the process of collapsing. And that collapse created a vacuum in my chest.Collection: Heart
We didn't get that chance because I was afraid. Afraid I had no chance with you.Collection: Chance
I left. When I should have stayed.Collection: Should Have
Everything seemed good, but I knew it had the potential to be awful.Collection: Awful
Whenever I'm out late she makes a sandwich for my school lunch. I always protest and tell her not to, saying I'll make my own when I get home. But she likes it. She says it reminds her of when I was younger and needed her.Collection: Home
I tried getting my dad to buy me a beeper for my birthday,” he says, “but he thinks only doctors and drug dealers need them.Collection: Dad
That’s what i love about poetry. The more abstract, the better. The stuff were your not sure what the poets talking about. You may have an idea, but you cant be sure. Not a hundred percent. Each word, specifically chosen, could have a million different meanings. Is it a stand-in ―a symbol for another idea? Does it fit into a larger, more hidden, metaphor? ...I hated poetry until someone showed me how to appreciate it. He told me to see poetry as a puzzle. Its up to the reader to decipher the code, or the words, based on everything they know about life and emotions.Collection: Talking
Two steps behind her, I say her name. "Skye.Collection: Names
But I need to wake up somehow. Or maybe not. Maybe it’s best to get through the day half-asleep. Maybe that’s the only way to get through today.Collection: Needs
And everyone knows you can’t disprove a rumor.Collection: Rumor
God, I am freaking out. Maybe he doesn’t know. Maybe I just look guilty of something and he’s picking up on that.Collection: Looks
And like I said, I didn't know him very well, but my ears perked up whenever I heard his name. I guess I wanted to hear something - anything - juicy. Not because I wanted to spread gossip. I just couldn't believe someone could be that good. If he was actually that good... wonderful. Great! But it became a personal game of mine. How long could I go on hearing nothing but good things about Clay Jensen? Normally, when a person has a stellar image, another person's waiting in the wings to tear them apart. They're waiting for that one fatal flaw to expose itself. But not with Clay.Collection: Believe
This was not a spurr-of-the-moment decision. Do not take me for granted... again.Collection: Decision
It was love because it was worth it.Collection: Worth It
Here's a tip. If you touch a girl, even as joke, and she pushes you off, leave... her... alone. Don't touch her. Anywhere! Just stop. Your touch does nothing but sicken her.Collection: Girl
Because it may seem like a small role now, but it matters. In the end, everything matters.Collection: Roles
How in the world was I alone? Because I wanted to be. That's all I can say. It's all that makes sense to me.Collection: World
There are also the people too bizarre to ignore, like Kyle Simpson. Future male stripper.Collection: People
Every reader is different. There's no book that's inappropriate for every person, but there are people who cannot handle everything.Collection: Book
Personally, I never understood the power of having books written about your experience - whatever that experience may be - until I wrote one and started hearing from teens. I just got an email from a reader who said that "Thirteen Reasons Why" was the first time they had felt understood. A book shouldn't be anybody's first time feeling understood and that's where censorship bothers me. These books need to be out there.Collection: Book
The young adult literature is relatively new - it just kind of exploded in the 2000s. When I grew up, there weren't bookstores with sections dedicated to teen lit, nor was my generation raised reading books written specifically for us. Because of that, today we still think of books for teens as children's books and so when you write a book that includes sensitive topics, it just seems even more controversial. What's troubling to me about that is these are issues adults know that teens deal with. Not writing about them makes them something we don't, or can't talk about.Collection: Book
A lot of authors see their book being banned or challenged as a badge of honor. But for me, it's nothing but frustrating and upsetting. I hear from readers that my work encouraged them to ask for help or reach out to someone about the situation they're in. When you hear stories like that on a daily basis and then hear adults call for your work to be banned, it's proof of why the stigma around these issues is so dangerous.Collection: Book
I felt I had a very innocent childhood and I feel privileged by that. But as an adult, I know that there were people who didn't have that. There are a lot of teens who haven't had as easy a childhood as me, and having literature that explores these "darker" parts helps relieve the burden and stress they may be feeling. As a writer, there is often a temptation to draw back when we write for teens - to preserve their innocence. But the reality is, if someone has already had that innocence taken in their life, then not writing about it is just brushing it under the rug.Collection: Stress
It's hard to be disappointed when what you expected turns out to be true.Collection: Being True
I needed a break... from myself.Collection: Break
But I do know which is the least popular. The truth.Collection: Knows
She wants to believe my excuses so bad. Every time I lie, she wants to believe me so much.Collection: Lying
I want to look back. To look over my shoulder and see the Stop sign with huge reflective letters, pleading with Hannah. Stop!Collection: Looks
One little ripple started today could create a typhoon fifteen years from now.Collection: Years