“We’d been waiting about fifteen minutes, and not once had my heart stopped pounding out a painful rhythm in my chest.”

This image of Maya’s heart pounding painfully conveys the extremity of her fear about attending a hearing school. The fact that her mother has been waiting for 15 minutes for Maya to be ready to leave the minivan also characterizes her mother as understanding and patient, despite the stresses she herself is under.

“SHE TALK A LOT, I signed to Kathleen, and her lips twitched like she was fighting back a smile.”

This quote illustrates how Gervais uses capitalization and other cues to signify whether dialogue is written, signed, or spoken. “SHE TALK A LOT” is in all-caps, signifying signed language. Maya’s comment about Nina is critical, but not mean-spirited, which characterizes Maya as basically kind despite the negative feelings about her new school that lead her to be a bit rude and disengaged. Kathleen’s stifling of her smile shows that she likes Maya and finds her amusing—and that she may even see merit in Maya’s criticism—but that as a responsible adult, she wants to encourage better behavior from Maya rather than rewarding her by openly laughing.

“That smile transformed him from an awkward rabbit into a surprisingly cute guy, and for a second I forgot how much he’d annoyed me earlier.”

Maya’s reaction to Beau’s smile foreshadows their eventual romantic relationship. Beau’s enthusiasm and positivity transform him from someone Maya just wants to ignore into someone to whom she is actively drawn.