"Fuck them too," Alec said. It was generally his reaction to people that disagreed with him. It was basically his reaction to everything. "Nobody's measuring our shit lives. Nobody's adding tally marks next to our names to see who got it worse or what kids should stop thinking 'bout themselves and start thinking 'bout the starving kids in Africa. Once we graduate from this, our government is going to see us the exact same. This isn't a contest. We're gonna mean the same to them. We're gonna be test subjects in their eyes, no matter what shit hole we grew up in. Nobody knows how you feel because they weren't there. They don't see the world how you see it. So they don't get the right to invalidate your emotions. We all got them. Might as well start acknowledging it."
Lenore was practically beaming at the prospect of kicking his ass and it actually made him smile. She was so fucking weird. It was beautiful. He ruffled her hair. "That's fucking adorable," he said. "All that hope in your eyes that's about to be shattered. So adorable."