Quotes From "The Unbecoming Of Mara Dyer" By Michelle Hodkin

In my rush, I hadn’t tied my shoelaces. Noah was now tying them for me. He looked up at me through his dark fringe of lashes and smiled. The expression on his face melted me completely. I knew I had the goofiest grin plastered on my lips, and didn’t care. “There, ” he said as he finished tying the laces on my left shoe. “Now you won’t fall.” Too late. Michelle Hodkin

Wait, " I said as Noah slipped a book from a shelf and headed toward the door. "Where are you going?"" To read?" But I don't want you to. "But I need to go home, " I said, my eyes meeting his. "My parents are going to kill me."" Taken care of. You're at Sophie's house." I loved Sophie."So I'm..staying here?"" Daniel's covering for you." I loved Daniel."Where's Katie?" I asked, trying to sound casual." Eliza's house." I loved Eliza."And your parents?" I asked." Some charity thing." I loved charity." So why are you going to read when I'm right here? . Michelle Hodkin

You could start a fire with the heat between you two."" You're mistaking bitter animosity for heartfelt affection. Michelle Hodkin

Is there any point asking what you're going to make me do on Sunday?''Not really.' Okay. 'Is there any point asking what you're going to do to me?' He grinned wickedly. 'Not really.' Fabulous. 'Does it involve the use of a safe word?'' That will depend entirely on you.' Noah moved impossibly closer, just inches away. A few freckles disappeared into the scruff on his jaw. 'I'll be gentle, ' Noah added. My breath caught in my throat as he looked at me from beneath those lashes, ruining me. I narrowed my eyes at him. 'You're evil.' In response, Noah smiled, and raised his finger to gently tap the tip of my nose. 'And you're mine, ' he said, then walked away. . Michelle Hodkin

Noah shifted on the bed, and the oddest crunching sound came underneath him. I looked, really looked, at the bed for the first time." What, " I asked slowly, as I eyed the animal crackers strewn all over it, "the hell?"" You were convinced they were your pets, " Noah said, not even trying to suppress his laughter. "You wouldn't let me touch them. Michelle Hodkin

Have you made any other friends since we've been here?" I gave him the death stare. "Yes, actually."" Who? I want a name."" Jamie Roth.""The Ebola kid? I heard he's a little unstable."" That was one incident. Michelle Hodkin

I read the title from the cover. ' 'The joy of.. crap.' ' I read the rest of the full title of the thick, nondescript volume to myself and felt myself redden. Noah turned over on to his side and said with mock seriousness, 'I have never read 'The Joy Of Crap'. Sounds disgusting.' I blushed deeper. 'I have, however, read 'The Joy Of Sex.' ' He continued, a smile transforming his face. 'Not in a while, but I think it's one of those classics you can come back to again.. and again. Michelle Hodkin

I pointed to a low bowl filled with what purported to be stew, but then Noah said, “Are you goingto point, or are you going to eat?”“ I just like to know what I’m putting in my mouth before I swallow.” Noah arched an eyebrow, and I wanted to crawl into a hole and die. Michelle Hodkin

Asscrown, " I muttered under my breath as I headed to my next class. I wasn't proud of swearing at a complete stranger, no. but he started it. Noah matched my pace. "Don't you mean 'assclown'?" He looked amused." No, " I said, louder this time. "I mean asscrown. The crown on top of the asshat that covers the asshole of the assclown. The very zenith in the hierarchy of asses, " I said, as though I was reading from a dictionary of modern profanity." I guess you nailed me then. Michelle Hodkin

The two of us snuggled like quotation marks in his room full of words. Michelle Hodkin

Thanks. Seriously, you must have better things to do with your life than waste it on the hopeless?'' I've already learned Parseltongue. What else is there?'' Elvish. Michelle Hodkin

Something inside of me began to tear. Michelle Hodkin

You want me as much as I want you. And all I want is you." My tongue warred with my mind. "Today, " I whispered. Noah stood slowly, his body skimming mine as he rose. "Today. Tonight. Tomorrow. Forever. Michelle Hodkin

My name is not Mara Dyer, but my lawyer told me I had to choose something. A pseudonym. A nom de plume, for all of us studying for the SATs. I know that having a fake name is strange, but trust me–it’s the most normal thing about my life right now. Even telling you this much probably isn’t smart. But without my big mouth, no one would know that a seventeen-year-old who likes Death Cab for Cutie was responsible for the murders. No one would know that somewhere out there is a B student with a body count. And it’s important that you know, so you’re not next. Michelle Hodkin

Have you kissed many boys before?" he asked quietly. His question brought my mind back into focus. I raised an eyebrow. "Boys? That's an assumption." Noah laughed, the sound low and husky. "Girls, then?"" No."" Not many girls? Or not many boys?"" Neither, " I said. Let him make of that what he would." How many?" "Why–" "I am taking away that word. You are no longer allowed to use it. How many?" My cheeks flushed, but my voice was steady as I answered. "One." At this, Noah leaned in impossibly closer, the slender muscles in his forearm flexing as he bent his elbow to bring himself nearer to me, almost touching. I was heady with the proximity of him and grew legitimately concerned that my heart might explode. Maybe Noah wasn't asking. Maybe I didn't mind. I closed my eyes and felt Noah's five o' clock graze my jaw, and the faintest whisper of his lips at my ear." He was doing it wrong. . Michelle Hodkin

I was going to kiss him, and I was going to regret it. But at that moment, I couldn't bring myself to care. Michelle Hodkin

I was warned about you, you know." And with that half-smile that wrecked me, Noah said, "But you're here anyway. Michelle Hodkin

I laughed as I twisted to face him and raised my arm to hit in one move. He caught my wrist and my laugh caught in my throat. A mischievous grin curved my mouth as I raised my other hand to hit him. He reached over me and caught that wrist too, gently pinning my arms above my head as he straddled my hips. The space between us boiled my blood. Michelle Hodkin

Noah's eyes held my face. I swallowed hard. The juxtaposition of him sitting in a room full of people while staring at no one but me was overwhelming. Something shifted inside of me at the intimacy of us, eyes locked amid the scraping of twenty graphite pencils on paper. I shaded his face out of nothingness. I smudged the slope of his neck and darkened his delinquent mouth, while the lights accented the right angle of his jaw against the cloudy sky outside. I did not hear the bell. I did not hear the other students rise and leave the room. I did not even notice that Noah no longer sat at the stool. Michelle Hodkin

While Daniel disappeared into his room, probably to limn the contours of some exquisite constellation of philosophical nonsense for his internship applications and gasp in the throes of his overachieving OCDness. Michelle Hodkin