Starfish Quotes
"I shouldn’t be surprised—she never shows up—but I can’t get rid of the empty, twisted feeling in my stomach."
"Being alone isn’t the same thing as being lonely, but sometimes it feels like they’re exactly the same thing."
"All I see is 'Not good enough to get into Prism.'"
"Sometimes I wonder if it’s because I look nothing like her."
"I’m not really good at talking to people, period."
"Whoever programmed my personality made me overly accommodating."
"I wish just once she had that kind of reaction over my art."
"I’m thinking about how desperately I need Prism and how badly I want to feel like I’m part of a world that wants me back."
"I want to get away so I can figure out who I really am."
"I want to stop feeling guilty about what happened between my parents."
"I remember when you were this small. Just like a baby rabbit."
"She’s making this about her so she doesn’t have to listen to me."
"Prism has always been my dream, ever since the day I googled art schools and saw how colorful it all was—the website, the campus, and the students."
"That means people have been getting their acceptance letters into Prism."
"You’re following your dreams. It shouldn’t matter to anyone else how long it takes you or what your journey is like—it should just matter to you."
"I don’t have anything against community college; I just can’t imagine spending another year living at home with Mom."
"I’m not sure what she’s doing. I’m not sure what part of this is real."
"I wanted to be here today, hanging out with you and your friend."
"What do you see when you look at pictures of yourself?"
"I wanted Prism so bad, but I also wanted the proof that I could do it."
"I can’t let my soul die to the point where I lose my art."
"But pretending with me is a lot different from when I pretend with my parents."
"I can’t believe you’d even threaten that. Do you know what that would do to our family?"
"This is a private family issue. You’re being unbelievably selfish right now."
"You could stay at my house," Jamie says, and everything inside me turns to air and happiness.
"Because disappointment always follows excitement."
"She watches me the way you’d watch a stray animal you’ve never seen before. With distrust and hesitation."
"I study the applications, print out directions, and stay awake for hours after I’m in bed, staring at the ceiling and wondering if this is all really happening."
"We all have to dream our own dreams. We only get one life to live—live it for yourself, not anyone else."
"I would have had to pay for these rooms anyway. Taking your money would make me feel like I was trying to get you to pay for half of my trip."
"Why do you always refer to yourself as weird?"
"You don’t need to apologize. I’d do the same thing."
"Artwork is finished when you get to the end of your sentence."
"I feel like I have the world, and even though Prism isn’t in it, Hiroshi is."
"I don’t have to be white to be beautiful, just like I don’t have to be Asian to be beautiful. Because beauty doesn’t come in one mold."
"I need to heal, so that my heart can be whole again."
"The best thing for him is to be with his mother. Not around two newborns and a father he barely sees."
"Maybe we’re all the same person, split into three pieces."
"Beauty is unique and special and it looks different for every person in the world."
"I want my first steps into my new life to be ones I take on my own."
"We’re all thinking it—we just know better than to say it."
"I want to inspire people I meet. I want to live."
"You are so obsessed with yourself that there isn’t any room for anyone else’s feelings."