How we cite our quotes: (Part.Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #1
For a while, they were blocking the door, until the banquet manager asked them to move. So they did, and now they're circled around Jenny Flick as if she's Charlie's hopeless widow rather than the reason he's dead. (1.1.18)
How aggravating. Jenny Flick acts like she's some kind of bereaved widow at Charlie's funeral, but Vera knows very well that she was the one who engineered his death. Someone has to bring that girl down, right?
Quote #2
I had a hundred arguments that made sense. I had a hundred proofs. I had a hundred truths. Nothing worked. Charlie believed Jenny Flick.
"But you even know she's a mythomaniac!" I said. (1.15.21-22)
In the words of vocabulary-word-loving Vera Dietz, Jenny Flick is a serious mythomaniac. That girl will lie about everything, and even though Charlie knows that to be the truth, he believes Jenny's poisonous lies and turns against Vera anyway. Ugh.
Quote #3
"It's nothing serious, dear," she said, her voice quavering a bit. "He'll probably be in school by Wednesday." (2.5.35)
It's obvious that Charlie isn't actually sick—his mom is just saying so to keep Vera from seeing him. Knowing how the Kahn family operates, Vera recognizes that Charlie's probably being abused by his dad.
Quote #4
Everything rushed back. The night in the tree house when he disappeared. The times I heard a car turning around in the travel at night. The times Charlie had new things—not just cigarettes. (2.13.3)
All this time, Charlie has kept a huge secret from Vera. She always thought that he told the creepy dude in the car off, but it turns out that Charlie's been coming to him for money regularly. It all makes sense now.
Quote #5
"Me too," he lied. I knew he was more popular than ever since he got the bike. Kids gathered around the student parking lot after school, and tried to look as cool as he was. (3.7.24)
Not all lies are based in malice. When Charlie lies to Vera about all his new friends, it's because he wants to spare her feelings. He doesn't want her to feel like she's been replaced, even though she has, in a way.
Quote #6
"Anyway, we're best friends. I don't want to ruin it. It's better this way."
He nodded and reached for my hand. "You're a real smart little cookie—you know that?"
Of course, I was lying to both of us. (3.9.97-99)
Vera doesn't just lie to her dad about her feelings for Charlie—she lies to herself, too. Maybe this is why she and Charlie never work out romantically: They're both lying to themselves about how much they love the other person.
Quote #7
The first time I realized things were going to get nasty was the first week in April, when Charlie broke our friendship off at the pagoda because he believed the lies Jenny Flick told him. First it was the one where I told the whole school about his dad beating his mom. Then a few days later, she told him that I told people that his penis was small. (4.3.2)
Jenny Flick uses pure deceit to turn Charlie against Vera. She feels threatened by Vera's closeness with Charlie, so she decides to destroy their friendship by telling Charlie that Vera's spread all these horrible rumors about what goes on in his house.
Quote #8
But I hadn't told my mother yet.
For three months, Sindy and I lived out of my bedroom, her sleeping and puking occasionally, me drinking beer and watching bad sitcoms on the black-and white mini TV I found in the attic. (5.3.14-15)
Ken Dietz remembers how he lied to his mother about Sindy's pregnancy and keeping her in the house. It didn't work out in his favor—when his mom found out, it solidified her belief that he was a total loser.
Quote #9
The whole way back to the store, I feel Charlie heavy in the air. I say, "Don't worry, man. I'll clear everything up." But he doesn't trust me. (5.6.49)
By the end of the book, Vera has finally come to peace with Charlie's betrayal and subsequent death, and is ready to clear his name. But after so much resistance, it's no wonder that the dead Charlies don't totally believe her.
Quote #10
On the one hand, it's nice on the other side. Secrets don't exist. There's nothing to ignore, and no destiny. On the other hand, the same thing is possible in life, if only we'd start paying attention to the right stuff. (5.7.8)
While he was alive, Charlie had all these secrets and lies that he had to keep straight, but now that he's dead, he sees that all that deception was useless. It didn't lead to anything good at all.