# Quote — Robert Cormier, Beyond the Chocolate War

> "I guess I want things to be like they were before. Hell, we're almost ready to graduate." "Tell you what, Carter," Archie said. "Let things stay the same as before, like you just said. Let the last days come and go. Graduation. But that's not the end of it, Carter. You were a traitor and you're going to pay for that. Some way, someday. Not tomorrow, not next month. Or even next year, maybe. But someday. And who knows? Maybe next month, after all. That's a promise, Carter. When you least expect it. When everything is rosy and beautiful. Then comes the payoff. Because you can't be allowed to get away clean, without paying for it, Carter."

- Author: [Robert Cormier](https://www.leafyquotes.com/robert-cormier.md)
- Book: [Beyond the Chocolate War](https://www.leafyquotes.com/robert-cormier/beyond-the-chocolate-war.md)
- Page: 208
- Source: [Wikiquote](https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Robert_Cormier#Beyond_the_Chocolate_War_(1985)) ([CC BY-SA 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/))
- Quote page: https://www.leafyquotes.com/robert-cormier/beyond-the-chocolate-war/i-guess-i-want

## More from this book

> It hadn't been much of a rape, really.

p. 89 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/robert-cormier/beyond-the-chocolate-war/it-hadnt-been.md)

> "Remember that, Carter. Nobody double-crosses Archie Costello and gets away with it. When you least expect it, revenge will come." Without a further word, Archie stepped across the driveway, in front of the car, under the spotlight, and up to his front door. Then he was gone into the house. He left Carter there, shaken, not only by the prospect of Archie's revenge sometime in the future but what he had almost done. He'd almost turned traitor against Obie. Which meant being a traitor a second time. Not once but twice. Christ, he thought, what have I become?

p. 209 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/robert-cormier/beyond-the-chocolate-war/remember-that-carter.md)

> The Obie-Bunting showdown was only a screen for Archie's real purpose- searching for the traitor. He suspected that the traitor was a member of The Vigils. More than suspected. Few kids outside The Vigils knew that the day off from school was to have coincided with the Bishop's visit. And the letter to Leon had focused on the visit. Thus, the meeting was a place to begin his pursuit of the traitor, and instinct- instinct that had never failed him- dictated that he would find his betrayer there.

p. 95 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/robert-cormier/beyond-the-chocolate-war/the-obie-bunting-showdown.md)