It was like all of a sudden high school became … high school. A bunch of immature irresponsible teens who felt invincible only because they'd never really been through nothing.
-- Matt (Chapter 1, “Everything Is Backward” )

Importance: Matt is beginning his senior year of high school weeks after school began and is facing his friends and classmates for the first time since his mother's death. He is fully aware that he has experienced a devastating event that his classmates cannot begin to understand.

But I didn't really care because, like I said, high school seemed like nothing to me now.
-- Matt (Chapter 3, “The Black Suit”)

Importance: Matt has decided to wear his suit to school because of his work in the funeral home. He acknowledges that it will cause more unwanted attention from his fellow students, but his mother's death has put life into perspective for Matt. He no longer really cares about what the other students think or say because he knows that...