02c. 1981 ADYeah, Mom, I’ll just keep telling the prince that he has absolutely no shot with me and offend him as often as I can. Great plan.Kiera Cass / quote ↗
03c. 1981 ADif you like the lovable sound of an asthma attack in your ear every time you tell a joke.Kiera Cass / quote ↗
04c. 1981 ADThe picture of me just after I’d found out Aspen was saving up to marry me. I looked radiant, hopeful, beautiful. I looked like I was in love. And some idiot thought that love was for Prince Maxon.Kiera Cass / quote ↗
05c. 1981 ADShe couldn’t have been more than twelve years old. In her hands was a sign that said RED-HEADS RULE! with a little crown painted in the corner and tiny stars everywhere. I knew I was the only redhead in the competition, and I noticed that her hair and mine were very nearly the same shade.Kiera Cass / quote ↗
06c. 1981 ADMy shoes I got to pick. I chose worn-out red flats. I figured I should make it clear from the start that I wasn’t princess material.Kiera Cass / quote ↗
07c. 1981 ADSo here I was expecting at the very best a cordial welcome from the girls who were prepared to fight me to the death for someone I didn’t want. Instead I was embraced.Kiera Cass / quote ↗
08c. 1981 ADI don’t think any girl in all of Illéa could have been smiling more than me.Kiera Cass / quote ↗
10c. 1981 ADHe wasn’t allowed to come with me there—my own rule for thislittle adventure.No more.Good-bye, Aspen.Kiera Cass / quote ↗
12c. 1981 ADShe must have been debating staying in the line or forcing me to run home and change.Kiera Cass / quote ↗
13c. 1981 ADAnd Carolina will be cheering on the beautiful daughter of Magda and Shalom Singer, the new Lady America Singer!Kiera Cass / quote ↗
14c. 1981 ADI thought about the cameras following me in the terminal and pictured my family watching my entrance on TV. I hoped they’d be proud.Kiera Cass / quote ↗
15c. 1981 ADCinderella never asked for a prince. She asked for a night off and a dress.Kiera Cass / quote ↗
16c. 1981 ADMaybe it's not the first kisses that are meant to be special. Maybe it's the last ones.Kiera Cass / quote ↗
17c. 1981 ADI’d waited an eternity for this. I’d have waited all over again if I had to. I was meant to kiss this boy, designed to be held by him.Kiera Cass / quote ↗
18c. 1981 ADWhen you know who matters most to you, giving things up, even yourself, doesn’t really feel like a sacrifice.Kiera Cass / quote ↗
19c. 1981 ADThey got under each of my shoulders and pulled me up, Padma walking in front of me and holding her arms out for good measure. I walked on my own, but I knew that if they hadn’t been there, I might have fallen more than once. Side by side, we marched into the Ocean, all of us crying forKiera Cass / quote ↗
20c. 1981 ADI can text in complete sentences. Oh, yeah, it’s a skill.” He smiled, proud of his accomplishments. “And, thanks to my mom being a competitive dancer as a teen, I know how to do the Lindy hop and the jitterbug.”I sat bolt upright, and Akinli rolled his eyes.“I swear, if you tell me you can jitterbug, I’m going to . . . I don’t even know. Set something on fire. No one can dance like that.”I pursed my lips and dusted off my shoulder, a thing I’d seen Elizabeth do when she was bragging.As if he was accepting a challenge, he shrugged off his backpack and stood, holding out a hand for me.I took it and positioned myself in front of him as he shook his head, grinning.“All right, we’ll take this slow. Five, six, seven, eight.”In unison, we rock stepped and triple stepped, falling into the rhythm in our head. After a minute, he got brave and swung me around, lining me up for those peppy kicks I loved so much.People walked by, pointing and laughing, but it was one of those moments when I knew we weren’t being mocked; we were being envied.We stepped on each other’s toes more than once, and after he accidentally knocked his head into my shoulder, he threw his hands up.“Unbelievable,” he said, almost as if he was complaining. “I can’t wait to tell my mom this. She’s gonna think I’m lying. All those years dancing in the kitchen thinking I was special, and then I run across a master.Kiera Cass / quote ↗
21c. 1981 ADPrince Maxon surveyed the room and found me. Our eye met for a moment, and he smiled.Kiera Cass / quote ↗
22c. 1981 ADYou might not want to fight for the things that others would fight for, like money or notoriety, but fight all the same. Whatever it is that you want, go after it with all that you have in you.Kiera Cass / quote ↗
24c. 1981 ADYou have to embrace the idea of imperfection, even in the thing that is most perfect for you.Kiera Cass / quote ↗
