He swaggered over to Jake himself.

“My mom believed that you make your own luck. Over the stove she had hung these old, maroon painted letters that spell out, “MANIFEST.”…

— Emmy Laybourne

“And then I saw Niko. He had sunk down to his knees and had his face in his hands. I went over to him.…

— Emmy Laybourne

“There I saw Chloe, freshly bathed, wrapped in a towel, eating fun-size butterfingers one after another like a chain smoker and watching me like…

— Emmy Laybourne

“Your mother hollers that you're going to miss the bus. She can see it coming down the street. You don't stop and hug her…

— Emmy Laybourne

“We were a good team. I was glad we had decided to work on being friends. She was holding up her end of the…

— Emmy Laybourne

“The cries of the other kids got louder: “The bus is on fire!” “It’s going to explode!” and “We’re going to die!” And I…

— Emmy Laybourne

“Sometimes, when you'd least expect it, the grief would chop your legs out from under you.”

— Emmy Laybourne

“All right," Jake said, clapping his hands. "Which one of you little punks is gonna teach me how to play Chutes and Ladders?”

— Emmy Laybourne

“I guess I could go and get a bunch of knives from the Kitchen aisles and throw them at the intruders. So lame. I…

— Emmy Laybourne

“I started to sing. Yes, sing. "I'm a Yankee Doodle Dandy. Yankee Doodle Do or die." I let go of Henry and Caroline and…

— Emmy Laybourne

“I like a kid who holds nothing back.”

— Emmy Laybourne

“Night came and fell hard. Not like God drawing a blanket over our land But like someone snuffing a candle. Sudden and total. Out—just…

— Emmy Laybourne

“Never lough out somebody's failure, cause tomorrow should be you!”

— Emmy Laybourne

“Now, anyway, we knew who was which blood type. In addition to the beating he'd received from Chloe, Max was also starting to blister…

— Emmy Laybourne

“Your mother hollers that you’re going to miss the bus. She can see it coming down the street. You don’t stop and hug her…

— Emmy Laybourne