“She was a stranger now, but she'd been a friend once, and that was enough for him.”

“…that she was the one who'd made friends with the Snake, that she'd let it lick the blood of her first menstruation, that she … ooo eee, that she … ooo eee, that she … ooo, eee, that she now knew what the Serpent knew.”

“She existed in her friends; there she was. All the parts of herself she'd forgotten. She knew herself best when she was with them.”

“Maybe she'd always been there. Maybe strangers enter your heart first and then you spent the rest of your life searching for them.”

“They were inlove, but they hadn't been lovers; they were friends and yet also strangers for so many years”

“He was a boy, she was girl. Can I make it any more obvious? He was a punk; she did ballet. What more can I say? He wanted her, she'd never tell secretly she wanted him as well. All of her friends stuck up their nose, they had a problem with his baggy clothes. He was a skater boy. She said: 'see you later, boy'. He wasn't good enough for her. She had a pretty face, but her head was up in space. She needed to come back down to Earth!”

“She and I were still friends, but not best friends, not like we used to be. But we were still friends. She'd known me my whole life. It's hard to throw away history. It was like you were throwing away a part of yourself.”

“If she could have anything in the world, he'd asked her, what would it be?

She'd answered that one without hesitation: a best friend. She hastily added, He'd smiled faintly. he'd thought but not said.”

“She wanted to ask him why they were all strangers who shared the same last name.”

“We had been friends. We could not become strangers. It left only one thing: we must be enemies.”