How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #7
We have knock-out rounds throughout the week after dinner and it's during this time that I truly get to know my House. Their choices make me laugh so much at times that I have tears running down my face and other times they are so poignant that they make me love them so much without even trying. (21.23)
There's nothing like karaoke night to bring a bunch of teenagers together and knock Taylor out of her self-deprecating, reclusive shell. These kids may have gotten on her last nerve early in the book, but now she's able to get to know them and love them.
Quote #8
Griggs looks up at us. "What happens when she's not my memory anymore? What happens when she's not around to tell me about his belt leaving scars across my two-year-old brother's face or when he whacked her so hard that she lost her hearing for a week? Who'll be my memory?"
Santangelo doesn't miss a beat. "I will. Ring me."
"Same," Raffy says. (21.44-46)
Whoa. Several chapters ago, Jonah and Santangelo got thrown in jail for beating the poop out of each other, but now Santangelo is agreeing to play a key role in Jonah's recovery from his dad's abuse and death. So much for war games.
Quote #9
I fall in love with these kids over and over again and my heart aches for their tragedies and marvels at their friendship. And it's like we've been talking for five minutes instead of five hours. (24.169)
At the beginning of the book, the five are merely characters in Hannah's book. By the time Jude tells Taylor the true story of her parents and her relationship to them, though, they take on the three-dimensional quality of real people. Of course Taylor loves them even more now: They're not only real, they're her family and friends.