How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #4
Instead, she stepped back, lowered herself to the bench, and said, "Sorry about your mom. My mom died too."
Turns out we both live with our grandmothers. For a long time, she put off telling me what her mom died from. My mom died of cancer, which was no big secret, but hers died from a drug overdose. Porscha thought that would make a difference, but when I found out, I told her it made no difference at all. Dead is dead, and lonely is lonely, and they both stink. All that matters, I told her, is that we're friends. And we are. (26.11-12)
Leslie and Porscha bond over their shared loss. Both of their moms died, so both have felt feelings no one else can understand. Now they have each other and that makes the whole death thing just a little bit easier.
Quote #5
"Never mind. It's okay. You're not really alone, anyhow. You have friends. You have me."
"Yeah. I guess."
Leslie said she feels lonely sometimes too. She told me about how it was right after her mom died. I really listened because she doesn't talk about her mother much. She said that after the funeral, and even months after she moved in with her grandmother, her world felt so empty and hollow, she could hold it at one end and ring it like a bell. It's better now, she said.
We must've talked for an hour. I can't remember half of what we talked about, except that Leslie said friends can be like familia. Only she pronounced it fama-lea. It took me a minute to figure out what she meant. Anyway, she was right.
So I don't have a boyfriend now. So what? Neither does Janelle. Or Gloria. Or Leslie. But we have each other. (32.10-14)
Lupe is pretty bummed that she's broken up with her boyfriend, but she realizes in the end that it was the right thing to do. Besides, she has her girlfriends, so what does she need some stinky boy for anyway? Sisters before misters.
Quote #6
I'm better off with friends like Diondra and Janelle who know I'm more than what I look like. They know I've got a brain, and I know how to use it. They're no dummies either. That's why I asked Mr. Ward if the three of us could do a group project on Women of the Harlem Renaissance for extra credit. (38.11)
Tanisha doesn't much like it when other girls at school pick on her, but at least she knows who her true friends are. She can be herself around them and doesn't have to pretend that she's not smart to make them like her. And bonus points for the cool extra-credit assignment, ladies.