How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #1
[…] rumor had it that Ali was, as the saying goes, "passing through high school on her back." (4.5)
Torey hears this through the grapevine, which makes him kind of judge Ali and second-guess her more than if he hadn't heard it at all. Gossip changes people and relationships.
Quote #2
He bragged into the gossip channels that he had slashed more than a thousand tires last year, though we figured it probably about twenty, because he was also known for lying […]. (5.30)
In order to beef up his reputation and keep himself safe, Bo deliberately spreads lies about himself so people think he is tougher and meaner than he is.
Quote #3
"Y'all're a bad influence on me. See how I'm gossiping? Every morning I make a deal with myself that I'm not going to talk evil about people. Somehow I never get past third period." (5.36)
Gossip is like the Apostle's Creed, just something normal Torey and his friends do every time they get together in the cafeteria, which is like the church for gossipers.
Quote #4
Leandra's heart was in the right place but her mouth could take off like it had a life of its own sometimes. (5.37)
How does gossip happen if the person doesn't want to do it? Leandra swears not to gossip every day, but never sticks with it… so what gives? Is it a bad habit? A way of handling her own insecurities? Something she does to get the upper-hand? You tell us, Shmoopers.
Quote #5
Leandra was like Ali in the sense of not liking to gossip. […] The difference was that Leandra had to work at it, whereas Ali came by not gossiping naturally. (6.27)
Looks like someone just might be a better person than somebody else… just sayin'.
Quote #6
[…] I wanted to kick Ali. I couldn't figure why she was bringing this kind of talk down on her head. (6.39)
Here's the thing, Torey: the gossip mill is going to churn away anyway, so Ali might as well just do what she wants. If people want to speak badly about her, they're going to whether she does anything to warrant it or not.
Quote #7
[…] "So why do you waste your time running down to the Pentecostal church every Sunday if you come around on Monday calling people dirtbag and turbo slut?" (14.38)
What can Leandra say to this? She is being a hypocrite and hurting others with her hobby. This is one of the main reasons Torey breaks it off with her; he just stops caring about her because she doesn't care for anyone else.
Quote #8
They would whisper to the other patients, and I had the pleasure of overhearing them a couple times. "… helped kill that Chris Creed kid out in the woods, just hasn't gotten arrested yet…did something with the body… made him crazy…" (22.83)
Gossip hurts. There we said it. It does, and it can do real damage. Chris Creed must have realized at some point, too, that whatever people gossip, people believe. Kind of like the Apostle's Creed…
Quote #9
All I had wanted to do was help a few hurting people—Bo, Ali, and Creed himself. I didn't realize that for my next trick that I'd lay myself open for the grand trophy of small-town scrutiny and humiliation, compliments of Renee Bowen. (23.34)
You can't roll in the mud and expect not to get dirty, Torey, and in this small town, shifting allegiances from the popular kids over the outcasts is guaranteed to get mouths running.