““I thought of myself, in those days, as someone in disguise—beneath the obedient son, beneath the straight-A student, the agreeable well-brought-up boy with his friends and his ping-pong and his semiofficial girlfriend, there was another being, restless, elusive, mocking, disruptive, imperious, and this shadowy underself had nothing to do with that other one who laughed with his friends and went to school dances and spent summer afternoons at the beach.””
![“I was a lonely boy. I spent all my time reading books and watching the world. [some] tried to draw me out at first, but their hearts weren't in it. And after all, they had enough troubles of their own.” quote by Rabih Alameddine](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/e04/rabih-alameddine-7394_books_i-was-a-lonely-boy-i-spent-all-my-time-r_1701817.jpg)
