The List Quotes
"A breeze nips at her legs, bare between the hem of her corduroy skirt and her ballet flats."
"This morning, Fern had proudly put on a new T-shirt that she’d bought online."
"School buses and cars begin to appear. One by one, Abby is warmed by her friends’ hugs."
"You’re the prettiest freshman girl at Mount Washington High!"
"Fern is marching down the hall with incredible purpose, her book-bag straps pulled tight over her shoulders."
"For love, or something pretty close to it, she missed the bus."
"Danielle isn’t friends with Danielle DeMarco, but they are in the same gym class."
"Jennifer Briggis makes her way through the morning hallway traffic, head down."
"Principal Colby is new and, so far as Margo can tell, the youngest faculty member at Mount Washington High School."
"Everyone in English had looked up when Principal Colby knocked on the door."
"It is the kind of hurt that feels permanent, more like a scar than a scab. Something she’ll always carry with her."
"I think it would help if we talked about it as a group."
"I can’t believe you don’t care, Jennifer. You should care most of all."
"It’s time for this hazing to end, and I’d like for whoever is responsible for the list to be held accountable."
"It’s a once-a-year thing, and the only dance at Mount Washington High that every grade is allowed to attend."
"I wish you didn’t have to go to school today."
"You know that the only reason people are suddenly being nice to you is because of the list, right?"
"Something stormy and panicked grew inside her. It was the feeling of having caught Milo in a lie, or in a disguise that she now saw through."
"It made her question everything about Milo, that he’d picked this girl to be with."
"Sarah quickly got her bearings. She closed the sketchbook, rocked forward to her knees and kissed Milo hard on the mouth, hoping it might wipe the image of Annie out of her mind."
"But the whole time, she couldn’t make sense of how Milo could want to be with her when he’d had a girl like that."
"Sarah is shaking. 'Annie doesn’t know me. And apparently, neither do you.'"
"I want you to talk to me like we’re friends."
"This is a problem. You need to practice with your team so you get the timing down for the meet tomorrow."
"I'm trying very hard not to take what you did personally, Danielle. But you need to understand that I find faking an injury particularly insulting."
"The thrill of being prettiest senior lasted for, like, a minute. My friends were jealous. They treated me weird."
"That was basically my life. That’s when I got the idea. To confess."
"Jennifer shakes her head, as if Margo isn’t following. 'Yeah, this year. But what about the three other years of high school?'"
"Because being on the list makes me somebody. People know who I am."
"But when Dana and Rachel started being friendly to me, I wondered if … I don’t know … maybe we could be friends again."
"But it was clear you weren’t interested in that."
"What were you doing in my room last night? What were you looking for?"
"It’s not like I did it all the time. Only when you started acting weird. I was trying to find out what was going on with us, because you wouldn’t talk to me about it."
"You always knew the perfect things to say to make me feel bad about myself. Now I know why."
"Jennifer continues, "I thought if I could knock you down a few pegs, you wouldn’t leave me for Rachel and Dana. But you still did.""
""This isn’t about homecoming queen, Jennifer! God! Of course I’m going to tell on you. Everyone thinks I did it.""
""You know you didn’t do it. What does it matter what everyone else thinks?""
""Tonight," she tells Jennifer. "I’ll give you tonight. Then it’s over.""
""Are you going to tell everyone I did it? Is that your plan, to make sure I don’t win?""
""No, Fern. You should go. I’ll see where I can get on my own with this and you can check it when you come home. Do you want me to do your makeup?""
""We lost!" Lauren announces cheerfully. "But it was the most fun I think I’ve had in my whole life.""
""You’ve changed, Lauren. I don’t like who you are choosing to spend time with. And this" — she crumples up the paper — "is beyond anything I would have thought you’d get involved with.""
""Because moving plates cause volcanic eruptions, they cause tsunamis. I mean, Mount Everest grows an inch a year. That’s something you’ll want to keep track of.""
""You’re a brat, you know that?" Fern says. "I have a stack of homework I have to do myself, and here I am spending my time trying to help you and you couldn’t be more ungrateful!""
""I don’t know how many different ways I can try to prove how beautiful I think you are. It’s killing me to watch you do this to yourself.""
""I’m not talking about this year’s list." She looks away, ashamed. "I was on last year’s list. I was the ugliest sophomore.""
""Jennifer’s gone," Principal Colby whispers in her ear."