How we cite our quotes:
Quote #1
Wren smiled wistfully and smoothed her long bangs across her forehead. "Drinking tequila is more about the journey than the destination…" (3.95)
If by "the destination" Wren means "face-down in a puddle of your own vomit," we'd have to agree with her.
Quote #2
Reagan was only two years older than Cath. She wasn't even old enough to drink yet. Not legally. (Not that it mattered on campus; there was booze everywhere. Wren already had a fake ID. "You can borrow it," she'd told Cath. "Say you got hair extensions.") (5.49)
Hallmarks of a fake ID: You live on Tardis Avenue or Pink Floyd Drive.
Quote #3
"We're skinny bitches on weekdays," Courtney said, "and drunk bitches on the weekend." (8.42)
News flash to all female college freshmen: You don't have to be any kind of bitches—drunk, skinny, or otherwise—ever, no matter what diet books, dudes, or your friends try to tell you. Seriously.
Quote #4
"I'm sure she's fine," Reagan said, looking at the text. "She probably just had too much to drink. Mandatory freshman behavior." (11.94)
Here's a bit of irony, given that Cath says Raven and Levi feel "more like sponsors" than friends. In the college-freshman version, sponsors get the sober girl to go out and party, not the party girl to sober up.
Quote #5
"No. Cath. I'm not. I'm drunk, and I'm staying out. That's the whole f***ing point of being out." (11.188)
"I'm drunk, and I'm staying out," sounds ominously like famous last words. Fortunately, at least this time, they're not.
Quote #6
"I see the same people every day. I remember their drinks, they like that I remember their drinks, I make them happy, and then they leave. It's like being a bartender, but you don't have to deal with drunks. Speaking of… How's your sister?" (12.44)
You don't have to serve liquor at Starbucks, but it could be argued that trying to remember all the specifications of people's lattes could drive you to drink. (We'll just have a grande dark roast with extra room for cold soymilk. Thanks.)
Quote #7
Was Wren a regular drinker? Yes. Did she often drink to drunkenness? Yes. Did she black out? Yes. Did she use any other drugs? I don't know. Was she on any medication? Birth control. Do you have an insurance card? Yes. (28.66)
Cath and Wren have been forced to become the adults in each other's lives. If your mom's not there physically and your dad sometimes skips out mentally, who else do you have but your sister?
Quote #8
He took off his glasses and rubbed his forehead. "Not that well. I saw what she was doing… I thought she'd, I don't know, self-correct. That she'd get it out of her system." (29.100)
Cath's dad was dealing with his own inability to self-correct by taking his medication, so he let Wren slide in a way a healthier parent might not have. We're not saying it's his fault, but this kind of parental oversight—whether the parent can help it or not—opens a little door for addiction to take hold.
Quote #9
Wren rolled her eyes. "Forgive me, but I'm not going to spend my college years sitting soberly in my dorm room, writing about gay magicians." (30.10)
We're thinking Cath would be okay with Wren sitting drunkenly (or at least buzzedly) in their dorm room, if it meant Wren would write about gay magicians with her again.
Quote #10
On the weekends that Wren was stuck at home, she was so bored, she practically live-blogged the whole thing for Cath, sending constant texts and emails. "dad is making me watch a lewis & clark documentary. It's like he's DRIVING me to drink." (33.5)
Wren's joking is lighthearted enough that it seems she's going to be okay, but there's also a sense of unease. Her big question at the end of the book is whether or not she'll stay sober when she no longer has to stay home.