"Natalie is this girl's name. But that's not what kids call her. Call her Bluish and grin and look at hard. Bluish fits her. This girl is like moonlight. So pale you see the blue veins all over. You can tell though, once she had some color."
Journal Part I, pp. 7-8

"Dreenie marched them along the avenue, worrying that she, herself, was a dumbbell. Thinking, Dad says some girls just show smarts quicker than others. Telling me, 'You are as good as it gets - even better!' But what if it's not true? Dreenie thought. What if he's wrong?"
Chap. 1, p. 16

"Dreenie was pretty sure Tuli had 'staged' her slide into the slush. She probably hadn't meant to fall down. Still, she'd done what Dreenie and her mom called a 'Tuligram.' It was a message telling them that Tuli needed to be someplace, with somebody...