Jumped Versions of Reality Quotes

How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)

Quote #7

"I was damaged during gym. My hand and my property. Someone has to pay. Someone has to be responsible." (19.11)

Leticia always blames other people: It's not her fault she's in zero hour, not her fault she's in French, and not her fault her nail was broken. Someone else is always responsible. Fortunately, we readers are able to see through Leticia's blathering and recognize that she really wants to shift responsibility because she's afraid to take it herself.

Quote #8

Coach is wrong. It's not how she says it is. I don't control s***. I don't control Hershheiser. The grades I get. The classes on my schedule. When I come and go. I don't control none of that. All of that's controlling me. Boxing me in.

The only thing I control is the ball. (30.23-24)

Some of the things on this list Dominique actually does control. Of course she can't control her classes and her teacher, but she does control her grades. It's easier, though, to think that she doesn't because then she has no one to blame for her suspension from the court but herself. This sounds suspiciously like another narrator, one whose name starts with L and ends with eticia.

Quote #9

In the middle of my calming Bea down, Principal Bates tore Celina, my little girl, from my hands. One minute Celina was cradled to my ear, the next minute my warm little Celina was ripped away. I almost had a heart attack on the spot. (29.12)

Take a look at the words Leticia uses to describe her cell phone: "my little girl," "cradled," and "warm," like Celina is actually a person, and an innocent one at that. Weird. And think about how Leticia likens her experiences to Mr. Yerkewicz's emergency. This is some massive ridiculousness on Leticia's part, to compare losing Celina to Mr. Yerkewicz actually having a heart attack. If that's not a skewed version of reality, nothing is.