You can’t beat yourself up anymore,′ he says. ‘And you can’t compare your thing to my thing or to anyone else’s thing on the how-bad-should-I-feel? scale.

Your kisses make me feel like I’m dancing.

My mind is not a very forgiving place.

It’s like they were worried that I’d be alone all day brooding and painting my cabin black or something – sheesh.

I just want you to see out there, where it’s blue and wild and full of adventure. And then I want you to see in here, where there’s a warm yellow glow and your family is making dinner and your mom and dad are dancing and your little sister is hoping that you’ll throw a smile her way.

You can't beat yourself up anymore,' he says. 'And you can't compare your thing to my thing or to anyone else's thing on the how-bad-should-I-feel? scale.

Julie has this thing about wanting a boyfriend before she graduates. Although she's pretty and smart and can definitely float into that midlevel popular crowd, she's never really dated anyone seriously enough to use the word boyfriend (and, uh, neither have I). I think her wanting one has more to do with the iconic idea of a "high school sweetheart" than anything else. Me, I'm resigned to waiting until one of those college guys starts appreciating my uniqueness like I've heard they will.

But I don't want to think about that--when I let my mind go to those insecure places, it takes forever to fall asleep.

When he smiles at me, I feel like I'm sitting under a heat lamp. I live for the times when his fingers brush my leg at lunch, or when we pass in the hallways and he raises his eyebrows at me, like we have a secret. I should feel bad--and I do, most of the time--but how can I stop thinking about him when seeing his face makes me feel so alive?

Maybe you're getting into the rhythm of sailing life," says James. He looks out at the waves that are rolling in to lap against the dock. "You know, the tides going in and then out, the wind blowing east and then west, the high of a perfect day out on the water, the low of a thunderstorm or a wind that won't go your way.