The choices you make now, the people you surround yourself with, they all have the potential to affect your life, even who you are, forever.

The line underscores a central theme in much of Sarah Dessen’s young-adult fiction: adolescence as a formative period in which seemingly ordinary decisions—who you befriend, what you tolerate, what you pursue—can shape identity in lasting ways. It frames personal development as relational and cumulative rather than purely individual, suggesting that character is partly built through proximity: the influences we allow close to us can redirect our values, opportunities, and self-conception. The emphasis on “now” highlights urgency and agency, while “forever” conveys the long shadow of early choices, encouraging mindfulness about environments and relationships that may quietly determine one’s future trajectory.