How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #7
He made himself stand up straight, which must have hurt. He turned and stalked away in his funny I'm-mad stiffed legged strut. I guess he has a right to be mad, I thought, and just like that, right as I thought that, I became aware of kids whispering "Psycho," and it was like a red fog just switched off, leaving me standing in an ordinary hallway. (15.97)
Karl is not just "the mayor's kid"—at school, he's also known as "the psycho who killed Squid's rabbit and beat the poop out of the quarterback." When you're in high school, the last thing you want is a reputation. Not to mention the fact that this particular reputation puts a serious damper on his plan to be normal.
Quote #8
"Some years ago […] Karl did a couple really bad things, which were pretty scary—well, really scary—and so a lot of kids that don't know him call him 'Psycho Shoemaker,' which really hurts his feelings and is so unfair, but it also means that some kids who don't know him are scared s***less of Karl." (17.50)
Karl may be the school psycho, but at least his friends know who he really is. In particular, it's kind of awesome that Bonny defends Karl, even though they broke up because he didn't want to drink with her anymore.
Quote #9
I thought how normal kids were probably spending their Friday nights after a game. Probably having pizza, or road drinking, or making out. Whereas I was standing on Mug Me Street in Toledo, Ohio, with a baseball bat and a purse. (17.93)
The Madmen's night out in Toledo to rescue Paul from the gay stroll has to be some kind of turning point where Karl realizes that this is his life, and no matter how hard he tries, he's never going to be normal. Really, it's probably one of the first moments in the book where he starts to realize Marti could actually be right about giving up on his friends being a bad idea.