"It is," Chrissy says, giving him a little nod. "I think it all matters even less after high school, anyway." Saying that makes her stomach flip uncomfortably, but she tries to ignore it. Ultimately, it's a good thing, it has to be. She knows Eddie didn't really care what most people thought of him, and at least always seemed more than willing to accept the label of freak, but she imagines that it must be pretty nice not to have to deal with all of that anymore. And for her, it's nice in a lot of ways to be without so many of the sources of the unbelievable pressure she was under.

It's just hard to acknowledge that all of it was virtually meaningless, that the things she agonized over will have no real bearing on the rest of her life.

"Besides, the things that were right usually looked kind of stupid."