I hate him.” She repeats it louder. “I hate him! ” She shouts it at the sky, even though it’s hard to shout lying down: “I! Hate! Luke! Willis! ”Rachel asks, “But what did he do?” Hallelujah can hear Jonah waiting for her answer. She knows he’s waiting because he’s stopped making fire-building noises. He’s silent. Completely.She takes a deep breath. “He told a lie about me. Actually, a lot of lies. And people believed him. The grown-ups, because he’s the preacher’s son and he’d never do something bad. And everyone our age–because he’s popular and you don’t question the popular guy, because if you do, you’ll stop being popular yourself. Or you’ll never get the chance. And because of what he said, my parents stopped trusting me. I lost friends. I was just this loser who–” She breaks off. Now she’s talking to Jonah. Even though he’s behind her and she can’t see him. “It doesn’t matter what you saw that night, or what he told you happened. Luke treated me like I was nothing, and you let him do it.” Jonah doesn’t answer.“ But that’s not what makes me the maddest, ” Hallelujah continues, pushing up to sit. “What makes me the maddest is that I let it happen too. I didn’t stand up for myself. And when someone did tell me to stand up for myself, I got so mad–” Sarah. She feels the emotion of their argument wash over her, fresh.“ I pushed her away. I told her she didn’t understand anything. But she was right. I became this girl who wouldn’t stand up for herself. The quiet girl. The nothing girl. I just wanted it all to stop, but from the outside, without me having to make it stop. And I wanted to get away, but I figured, hey, college will get here eventually and then I’ll be away, I just have to get there, and all the while I’m miserable, and I’m letting you guys make me miserable, letting you make me think I’m supposed to be miserable, that I’m supposed to be quiet, and I’m shutting people out, people who maybe actually care, and I hate myself for it.” An abrupt stop. The train of thought hits a wall. She’s never said that before. Never thought it before. Not consciously. But she knows, deeper than she’s ever known anything, that it’s true. Hallelujah has spent six months hating herself for being weak and silent and for letting bad things happen and for not fighting. Kathryn Holmes
Some Similar Quotes
  1. Darkness cannot drive out darkness: only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that. - Unknown
  2. The opposite of love is not hate, it's indifference. The opposite of art is not ugliness, it's indifference. The opposite of faith is not heresy, it's indifference. And the opposite of life is not death, it's indifference. - Elie Wiesel
  3. The only thing worse than a boy who hates you: a boy that loves you. - Markus Zusak
  4. In the moment when I truly understand my enemy, understand him well enough to defeat him, then in that very moment I also love him. I think it’s impossible to really understand somebody, what they want, what they believe, and not love them the way... - Orson Scott Card
  5. More smiling, less worrying. More compassion, less judgment. More blessed, less stressed. More love, less hate. - Roy T. Bennett
More Quotes By Kathryn Holmes
  1. So how did you think about him?” Rachel asks. Hallelujah shrugs. “We were friends. Good friends. <span style="margin:15px; display:block"></span>He knew–knows–a lot about me. I guess I know a lot about him. Stuff he likes and doesn’t like.” Rachel looks skeptical. <span style="margin:15px; display:block"></span>“And yet you...
  2. After a few minutes, she speaks up again. “You’re next. Sing.”Anxiety grips Hallelujah’s chest, squeezing. “I don’t sing, ” she says.“ C’mon, it doesn’t matter if you’re bad. <span style="margin:15px; display:block"></span>It’s not like this is a concert hall–”“ She’s not bad.” Jonah’s back. “She has...
  3. I hate him.” She repeats it louder. “I hate him! ” She shouts it at the sky, even though it’s hard to shout lying down: “I! Hate! Luke! Willis! ”Rachel asks, “But what did he do?” Hallelujah can hear Jonah waiting for her answer. She...
  4. Luke said that he was surprised when I showed up at his room. That he hadn’t meant to give me the wrong idea. That he would never have taken it beyond just kissing. And he looked so genuine. <span style="margin:15px; display:block"></span>So trustworthy. So sorry about...
  5. He’s looking at her with so much compassion. Like he knows what she’s going through. Like he cares about her. This is what she wanted to see after everything happened with Luke. <span style="margin:15px; display:block"></span>Instead, she saw Jonah’s back, every time he turned and walked...
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