How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #1
In the two years or so we'd been on the road, I did miss my mom. When I was really homesick in those first lonely, bumpy days at a new place, I wasn't lonely for my old house or friends, or anything else specific, as much as just the comfort she represented. (2.11)
It's not easy being on the road all the time—especially because it means that Mclean never gets to see her mom anymore. She doesn't want to visit her mom in her new home, though; she just wants to feel like she has a whole family again.
Quote #2
There was probably a term for it, some brand of codependence, a daughter acting too much like a wife, once said wife takes off. But what was I supposed to do? We had each other. That was all. (2.67)
Mclean and her dad are pretty much drifters, and they don't like to rely on anyone but each other. This makes things simple, but it also makes it so that they're both pretty lonely individuals.
Quote #3
Since we'd been moving, I'd gotten smart about dealing with people. I knew I wouldn't be staying forever, so I kept my feelings at the temporary stage, too. Which meant making friends easily, but never taking sides, and picking guys I knew wouldn't last in the long haul, or any haul at all, for that matter. (2.94)
How sad—Mclean doesn't even get attached to the guys that she dates. She just assumes that everything will end eventually, and moves on without trying to maintain contact.
Quote #4
I was almost there when I looked back in the direction Deb had gone, finding her a moment later by the bus parking lot. She was sitting under a tree, her green purse beside her, sipping a soda. Alone. (3.73)
Even though Deb welcomes everyone to Jackson High, she's received a pretty cold welcome from everyone else. Mclean gets how she feels—after all, she's an old pro at being lonely—and reaches out to her.
Quote #5
I glanced up, just in time to see Deb, her purse tucked tightly to her side, passing beside me. As our eyes met, her face brightened with recognition; when she saw I wasn't alone, though, she bit her lip and kept moving. (5.189)
Poor Deb—she may have weird interests, but she and Mclean still have a lot in common. They don't quite fit into the whole Lakeview scene—at least not yet.
Quote #6
Together, we looked down at the tiny house, the sole thing on this vast, flat surface. Like the only person living on the moon. It could be either lonely or peaceful, depending on how you looked at it. (6.88)
The little house on the table is kind of like Mclean—all alone in this vast world. But as they build the little model houses around it, she realizes that it's better to have friends around you.
Quote #7
"I don't know," I said. "I move around a lot. So I hardly get to know anybody. It might be easier, but it's kind of lonely." (8.48)
Wow, talk about a cold dose of the truth. Mclean admits to Riley what she doesn't really tell anyone else: that she might act like moving around is cool and fun, but it's actually pretty lonesome.
Quote #8
I probably should have been creeped out, sitting in a cellar beneath an empty house, alone. But after a moment or two to adjust my eyes and my nerves, I realized Dave was on to something. (10.82)
Doesn't Mclean know that sitting alone in a dark cellar is how all horror movie heroines die? She'd be better off seeking some alone time in her big empty house—after all, it's not like she and her dad have moved in lots of their belongings.
Quote #9
I nodded, looking at Deb again. She was sitting so still, like at any moment someone might realize their mistake and tell her to go. It made me sad, not for now but for whatever she'd been through to make this so new. (11.93)
Man, Deb hasn't had the most fulfilling social life before Mclean came along, has she? It's like she's Cinderella wondering if, when the clock chimes midnight, she'll end up losing all of her friends in a purple cloud of dust.
Quote #10
But what if I'd been wrong? What if this new life was just that, brand-new, like this gorgeous house, and she wanted to keep it fresh, no baggage? Katie Sweet had to deal with a moody, distant, firstborn child. But Katherine Hamilton didn't. (14.128)
Mclean always took for granted that her mom would want her around, but she realizes that might not be the case. What if her mom doesn't want her around at all? Where does that leave Mclean?