How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #7
It's not that I want to respond to it, I have to respond to it. I can't let that slide. (6.34)
Only her friends Shayne and Viv saw the interaction between Trina and Dominique, and Dominique feels that she has to respond because otherwise she will lose face with them. We have to wonder if Dominique is being honest with herself, though, when she says that she doesn't want to respond. There's an eagerness that she finds in physicality that implies otherwise.
Quote #8
See, it's those two words, Leticia said, that cause problems. Because what should Leticia have done in the first place? Minded her own business. Half the turmoil brewing happens because so-and-so didn't do what? Mind her business. (13.5)
When Leticia considers whether or not to tell Trina, she realizes that the situation could turn into a she-said, she-said drama. But is telling Trina the only option Leticia has at her disposal? And is Leticia right that fights start because people don't mind their own business? Clearly, Leticia isn't willing to sacrifice her own reputation to be branded as a snitch.
Quote #9
But God intervened through the other boy and grabbed him while his arm was waving. He said, "Let those dykes have it." And even though his face wasn't showing it, you know he was glad his friend stepped in, so they laughed and called Pheoma and Griffy Dykes while they were walking away. (23.5)
Trina is recalling when two athletic girls ran a couple freshman boys off a handball court. To save their own reputations, the boys call the girls dykes. Clearly, there's a connection between saving face, insults, and reputation. In hopes that they can scrap together their reputations, the boys laughed off the girls' actions. Now, why Dominique didn't do that, we don't know.