How we cite our quotes:
Quote #1
I observed her as if she were a bird in an aviary. One day I turned a corner and there she was, coming right at me, the long skirt softly rustling, looking straight at me, surrounding me with those eyes. I turned and trotted off the other way. Seating myself in my next class, I felt warm, shaken. I wondered if my foolishness showed. Was I myself becoming goofy? The feeling I had had when I saw her around the corner had been something like panic (3.39).
Leo and Stargirl sittin' in a tree. Can't you hear the sing-songy taunt now? He doesn't know it yet, but he's got what Shmoop calls "The Feeling" for Stargirl. It is the first delightful and terrifying step toward love. No, this isn't love itself. This is the warming-up part. The part that usually fades the longer you get to know someone and start actually loving them.
Quote #2
She stood at my shoulder and looked down at me, smiling and singing, and I didn't know whether to look down at my hands or up at her face, so I did some of each. My face was burning… "Why him?"
Stargirl tilted her head, as if studying me. She grinned mischievously. She tugged on my earlobe and said, "He's cute." And walked off.
I was feeling nine ways at once, and they all ended up at the touch of her hand on my ear—(6.17-19).
Feeling nine ways at once? Sounds like love to Shmoop. Isn't it great when you find out the crush you are crushing on is crushing on you back? Yup. That is one the best feelings in the world.
Quote #3
Just two weeks before, I had found out she knew my name, and now I was loopy with love. I was floating. I floated up the white light that washed my sheets and slept on the moon. In school I was a yellow balloon, smiling and lazy, floating above the classrooms. I felt a faint tug on my string. Far below, Kevin was calling, "You're in love, dude!" I merely smiled and rolled over and drifted dreamily out a window (17.1).
Leo uses some fantastic images and metaphors here to describe the feeling of new love. This is the time after the crazy panicky moments when you just aren't sure that the other person feels about you the way you feel about them. This is describing the time right after you know that the feelings are shared. Totally warm and fuzzy like a warm sweater on a freezing day. Or, like Leo says, like you are floating above the world without a care or concern and you don't ever want to come down.