“School's okay. I mean, it's the usual oppressive regime of fascist dogma. But I'm surviving.”

“Finally getting that sex change? I'm proud of you, brother. I mean, sister.”

“Sam sighed. "Let's just say that I'm a terminal disappointment. And a ranga."I frowned. "What is that? The others keep saying it."Sam hesitated for a moment. "It's...Greek. It means debonair and handsome and generally made of awesome."I regarded him skeptically. "It's short for orangutan, isn't it?" I said. "Because you're a redhead."Sam looked disappointed. "Maybe.”

“Sam whacked Jacob over the ear. 'You know,' he said, his voice low, 'those pancakes'll go straight to your hips.'Jacob glowered at him. 'You know,' he mimicked, 'there's a reason nothing rhymes with orange.''There is a reason,' returned Sam. 'It's because orange comes from the Arabic word naranj, which in turn is thought to derive from the Tamil words aru, which means six, and anju, which means five. Because when you cut an orange in half, it has six segments in one half and five in the other. So nothing rhymes with it because we don't have many other words appropriated from Tamil.”

“I think that sometimes the whole larger-than-life gay thing is just another kind of closet. It's easier to be different if you're very different, if you go all-out on purpose. Because that way you can still hide who you really are.”

“Ava: 'Girls liking boys is normal.'Pat: 'No, it isn't. It's just common.”

“And hither and thither fly--Mere puppets they, who come and go, At bidding of vast formless things, that shift the scenery to and fro.'"His voice was hushed and whispery in the earphones. "Mere puppets," he repeated. "It's Edgar Allen Poe.""So are we the vast formless things?""Yep."I grinned up at him. "Are you calling me fat and unshapely?"His low laugh tickled my ears. "Quite the contrary," he said. "Jacob can be vast, and I shall be formless. Your form is very pleasing.”