How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #4
Carol turned from them and fled across the oval, her hands clasped over her ears. Headed for the mirrors in the washroom, Lily guessed. "Her ears are the same size," she said to Tracy, and Molly Random said, "They are. Exactly the same size." […]
Tracy shrugged. "It was only a joke," she said. "She'll get over it." (16.57-58)
Thanks to Tracy Gilman's Mean Girl Syndrome, Carol Dewey will now go through life with Ear Dysmorphic Disorder. Way to go, Tracy. Sometimes, the things we intend as harmless jokes can actually alter someone's reality.
Quote #5
At once images of Lonnie swam into [Clara's] mind: his tall, gangly figure loping across the campus toward her, briefcase tucked under his arm. The way he had of tossing his head back—like a startled horse, she thought—to free his forehead of that stray lock of floppy, foolish hair. (17.1)
A-ha… there is a girl out there who thinks that "desperate" hair pushing habit is actually endearing. Take that, Lily.
Quote #6
All that happened was that Stan gave a guilty start and turned his head away. Then he got mad. Because why should he be feeling guilty? He hadn't done anything to be ashamed of; he wasn't the one who couldn't stick to things, who worried his mother and drove her to tears. (26.2)
Every argument has two sides, and Stan and Lonnie's is no exception. They both feel guilty, but they also both dismiss the guilt because they feel that it's the other person's fault. In reality, they're both partially to blame for the ax incident, and it takes seeing what happened from the other person's perspective to change their minds.