Luke’s good-naturedness was like the bug spray we applied at his parents’ summer home in Nantucket, so powerful it warded off the dread, that feeling, an alarmingly calm omnipresence, that something bad was about to happen.
-- Narrator (Chapter 1)

Importance: In her description of her panic and need for security Ani says that she was originally attracted to Luke because he at first kept the fear she felt about life at bay.

Bradley was like an abusive foster mother — she saved me from the system but only so she could have her twisted, meth-fueled way with me.
-- Narrator (Chapter 1)

Importance: Even though Ani credits her time at The Bradley School with keeping her from adopting a life style like her mother’s, Ani believes that the things she learned at the school led her to a life that is tormented and twisted in its own way.

Changing my name had nothing to do with hiding my...
-- Narrator (Chapter 1)