Quotes From Cosmo--Part 2

As promised! :D

Note: Any literary agencies mentioned in this post are completely fictional. A similarity in names is completely coincidental. If there really is a 'Bartholomew Adams' Literary Agency of Crap', I didn't intend it to be that way.

Another note: Something got messed up with the chapters numbers in the last blog post. The quote from Chapter 15 is really from Chapter 14. Here's Chapter 15 on to now! :D

(Spoilers in this one, though it's not that huge).

Polaris darted out of my bedroom and jumped up on the couch. Nana’s hand flew to her heart.

“Oh, my!” she said dramatically, creeping closer to Polaris. “You got another cat! Oh, she’s so cute.”

“He,” I corrected her automatically.

“He. Right,” Nana said. “What’s her name? And where is that awful cat. Cupcake or whatever the hell her name was. She was always hissing at me and she ripped my favorite sweater.”

“Her name was Muffins,” I said quietly. “And she died. Before Christmas, actually.”

“Oh.” Nana’s face showed no sympathy. “Well, I’m sorry to hear that. I’m sure you were devastated.”

 --Cosmo, Chapter 15, page 136

(Another spoiler, related to the one above).

"How would you feel if all of your writing had been deleted?" Celeste's voice cracked on the last few words. "It's all gone! I mean, what, are we in high school?"

I gave Celeste a hug and let her cry into my shoulder. I held her like she had held me when Muffins had died. 

"I hate to break it to you, but we are," I whispered. "Welcome to the world. It sucks."

--Cosmo, Chapter 16, page 148

(I hope you've read Harry Potter).

“No way! You didn’t cry at all when Dobby died?”

 I shrugged.

 “Not really. Maybe a few sniffles, but that was the extent of it. No, the tissues came out for Hedwig and Fred. Dobby was kind of annoying.”

Celeste punched my shoulder.

“You are heartless.”

“I am not!”

“Watch it.” 

Celeste grabbed my arm and tugged me away from a girl’s outstretched foot. A minion of Samantha’s, no doubt.

--Cosmo, Chapter 17, page 150

(Another spoiler from HP. This is is also from Chapter 17. Sorry for all the spoilers! I promise these next ones will be fine).

And if Samantha were Voldemort, the rest of the girls trying to impress her were all Bellatrix Lestranges; they were desperate to impress her, to flatter her, to be just like her. They all wanted the top jobs, the best place at the lunch table. But Vanessa, oddly enough, was the only one she kept close. She was the least evil of them all, yet Samantha seemed to adore her. Was it because she was trying to convert her or was it because Vanessa was truly evil? 

I just hoped Vanessa turned out to be a Severus Snape.

--Cosmo, Chapter 17, page 152

Samantha seemed to be searching for a clever retort, but nothing came to her, so she settled for waving the notebook in my face.

"This," she started, letting the 's' hiss out into the silence that followed her break. "Is--"

"Pure genius?" Celeste interjected. "Astounding? Astonishing? Amazing?"
"Nice use of alliteration," Samantha said sarcastically. And when Celeste and I stared at her in disbelief, she added, "Yeah, I know things, too."

--Cosmo, Chapter 18, page 159

 

I turned in my chair and rested my chin on my arms, which were resting on the top of the chair. "Firefox keeps crashing. I think I have too many tabs opens."

"Here, let me try." Mom came over and clicked on the Firefox button. The tabs were restored, only for the screen to fade a little, freeze up, and crash again.

"See?" I said. "Can you fix that?"

Mom clicked a few buttons, pressed the F1 key for no apparent reason, and stood up, muttering, "Kids these days," which was the excuse she made whenever something was too complicated for her.

--Cosmo, Chapter 19, page 169

I sighed and scanned the 'Agents' page of 'Bartholomew Adams' Literary Agency.' There were a few that accepted YA books, but most of them didn't like contemporary or stories set in schools.

"This. Is. Hopeless." I threw my head back over the chair and groaned. "Every single one of these agents would have a problem with my book. Every single one! These agents are ridiculous. Who doesn't like female protagonists? Who?"

"Male chauvinist pigs," Celeste said simply. "And apparently Deb Garner."

Celeste closed 'Bartholomew Adams' Literary Agency of Crap' while I grumbled things like, "Hopeless," and "Stupid."

"Your optimism is killing me," Celeste said in a flat tone. "Can't you be just a tad more negative? I don't want you to get your hopes up."

"Wait, here's an agent!" I sat up and stared at the screen. "Matthew Evans, lover of simple contemporary YA stories--that's what I write!--has worked at Reid Literary Agency for over five years, blah, blah, blah . . . darn. He doesn't accept unsolicited manuscripts."

Celeste stuck her tongue out at Matthew's smiling picture.

"Darn you snobby agents!"

--Cosmo, Chapter 19, page 169-170

 

"Please?"

"No."

"Please?"

"No."

"Pretty please with a cherry on top?"

"Um . . . no."

"But--"

"No!"

Celeste slapped my hand away from her keyboard.

"I said no," she said, sticking her tongue out at me.

I edged closer to the computer mouse. Celeste grabbed my shoulders, turned me around and shoved me away.

"Please?"

Celeste let out a loud groan.

"Gah! You don't get it, do you? Define 'no' for me so I understand how you're thinking."

"Um, it means maybe? If I pester enough you'll give in."

Celeste banged her head against the wall three times and moaned.

"I need cookies." And she stumbled out of the room.

I crept towards Celeste's computer once I heard her call out, "Dad! Where'd you put the Chocolate Chunkies?" But as soon as I touched her mouse, Celeste poked her head in the room.

"Don't even think about it."

I yelped and dropped her mouse, which was cordless.

"God, don't do that!" I bent down and picked up the mouse, which was a shade of neon green.

Celeste shrugged. "Then don't do purposely do something I've forbidden you to do."

"You're heartless." I stuck out my lower lip at her and furrowed my eyebrows.

"You're hopeless!" Celeste called back at me as she walked away. "And I'm hungry! Dad, where are the cookies?"

--Cosmo, Chapter 20, page 175

“Cosmo.”

“Holy monkeys!” I jumped in my chair and pulled off my headphones, a recent just-because present from Celeste, who had just said my name.

“God!” I put my hand over my rapidly beating heart. “You scared the crap out of me!”

“Sorry.” Celeste sat down on my bed and pulled off her jacket—a purple hoodie with patchwork pink hearts on the sleeves—and set it on top of her tie-dyed tote bag. “I thought you knew I was coming over.”

“I did. I just forgot.”

Celeste glanced over at the computer screen. I had ten tabs open. Two of them were YouTube videos, one of them was my e-mail, two were my blogs, and the other five were writing articles.

“The internet’s killing your short-term memory, you know,” Celeste said wisely, nodding like a maniac. She stopped and put a finger her face. “Wait, or was it your long-term memory?”

“Did Mom let you in?” I asked. I fiddled with my headphones in my lap. They were still plugged in to the computer.

“No.” Celeste frowned. “I didn’t think she was home. I knocked, but no one answered, so I just let myself in.”

I raised my eyebrows at her.

“You let yourself in?” I said. “If I remember right, you don’t have a key.”

“Uh, what about the spare that’s under your doormat?”

Celeste must’ve seen the surprised look on my face, because she smirked.

 “Yeah, you told me about that,” she said. “Again the internet’s—seriously, which is it? This is gonna bug me all day. Look it up.” 

--Cosmo, Chapter 21, page 180

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Updates From MV:

I realized the other day that I didn't have the regular version of "Here Comes the Sun" by The Beatles on my iPod. That's my favorite song by them! Well, now I have it. All is right with the world again.

Want "Catching Fire" to throw up on your computer screen? Say no more.

What do you think of this song? I LOVE it! :D

(If you have something you'd like me to share in "Updates From MV" please send me an e-mail at themagicviolinist(AT)gmail(DOT)com. Thank you! :D)