Fake Skating

“I wanted to go to Harvard like Lorelai wanted Rory to go to Harvard.”

This line uses a pop-culture allusion to the television show Gilmore Girls to communicate the intensity of Dani’s ambition. By comparing Dani’s Harvard dreams to Lorelai’s obsession with her daughter Rory attending Harvard, Painter captures the protagonist’s aspirations in a single reference. The exaggeration also creates a humorously hyperbolic tone even as it reflects Dani’s need to gain a sense of control and achievement amidst the chaos of her family life.

“She was nothing, and hockey was everything.”

This bleak sentence offers a snapshot of Alec’s internal voice, revealing his distorted worldview. When he dismisses his relationship with Dani and makes it sound as though he must focus only on hockey, this all-or-nothing mindset creates a sharp jarring imbalance that exposes how completely he has tied his identity and self-worth to his performance in the sport. The hyperbolic phrasing underscores the emotional extremity of Alec’s current priorities, depicting a boy who has pushed key relationships aside in the service of meeting his community’s expectations. The line is ironic because in reality, the reverse is true; at the end of the novel, Alec will learn that even in the absence of hockey, he still values his connection to Dani.

“She was like a magnet pulling me toward her.”

This simile captures the irresistible pull that Dani has on Alec, and the image of a magnet emphasizes the mutual attraction that dominates their emotions, making it clear that the depth of Alec’s attraction bypasses all logic. The statement also shows that their shared history is built on something long-standing and powerful. As Dani disrupts his carefully controlled world, Alec find himself pulled toward the truth that he can no longer avoid.

“Her faith in me almost made it worse, because it just added to the pressure that’d been crushing my skull for the past year.”

Alec’s reaction reveals that unconditional support can become a source of pressure in itself. Instead of relieving his stress, his mother’s calm faith intensifies his fear of disappointing her. The passage underscores the weight of expectations that he has been carrying since long before the photo scandal. Her lack of anger also highlights the contrast between how others see him and how he sees himself. In this moment, Alec’s internal conflict comes into focus, showing that he perceives love and expectation as indistinguishable because he is already overwhelmed.

“[A]s someone who’d never had a lot of friends, I was homesick for the ease I used to feel around him.”

Dani’s reflection about Alec reveals how deeply her transient upbringing has affected her sense of belonging. She identifies Alec not just as a friend but as the closest thing she has ever had to stability. The word “homesick” symbolizes her yearning for a connection that felt settled when nothing else in her life was. Alec has become a stand-in for a home that Dani has never been able to hold onto in her own family life.

“He went back and forth between making me feel guilty and making me feel sad; it was an infinite loop that had me in a choke hold.”

Dani’s description of her father shows that she is still subject to his emotional manipulation, even after her parents’ divorce. His constant swings between making her feel guilty and making her feel sad keep her tied to him in ways she can’t escape. The metaphor of a “choke hold” makes it clear that his influence is deeply harmful despite her love for him and despite his distance from her everyday life. The language captures the heavy and suffocating, feeling of enduring a parent who uses their child’s emotions to control them rather than support them. The scene presents a vivid picture of The Emotional Impact of Family Dynamics.

“[S]omething about the moment was straight from our past, grabbing at my chest with a hard squeeze.”

This moment highlights a throwback to Dani and Alec’s childhood, showing that some things between them haven’t changed. Alec’s protective response when Benji talks to Dani is a reminder that their past connection is still alive, even with all the drama around them. The scene also establishes Benji as a key protagonist and foreshadows the fact that he will continue to create obstacles for Alec.

“Alec at full power is a lot to handle.”

This line captures Dani’s mix of amusement and overwhelm when Alec is being playful and charming. His energy, confidence, and charisma are almost too much for her to manage, especially when they’re both supposed to be play-acting at romance. The scene shows her awareness of his effect on her, highlighting the chemistry and tension between them as Alec’s magnetic personality makes it impossible for Dani to ignore her growing attraction.

“It was ridiculous how much I loved being taller than her now. It was like physical proof of the shift in our dynamic, a reminder that everything had changed.”

This passage uses physicality as symbolism, and the change in the teens’ relative heights becomes a visible marker of the deeper change in their relationship. Alec’s enjoyment of being taller reflects a sense of empowerment and confidence, showing that their balance is subtly different. His awareness highlights the small, physical details that make emotional changes more tangible, allowing him to measure the growth and distance in their friendship and attraction.

“There was this long-game history between all of them, a braided-together past that made them more like cousins than friends. I wondered what that felt like.”

As Dani observes the tight bond between Alec and his longtime friends, the passage highlights the emotional power of shared history. The metaphor of the “braided-together past” suggests that the boys’ connection is unique because it has been built upon years of shared experiences. As Dani compares them to family, it is clear that she is beginning to change her own understanding of the term, and this inner shift foreshadows her own process of building meaningful connections with people beyond her immediate family. Yet in this early moment, her thoughts reveal her insecurities, contrasting her outsider’s perspective with the ease of Alec’s social world. These considerations deepen the novel’s focus on The Challenges of Constructing Identity.

“[I]t was like being struck by lightning. I felt a jolt in every nerve ending in my body when she opened for me, and I was electrified when her fingers fisted in the front of my coat and her tongue—”

This passage employs simile and vivid imagery to depict the intensity of Alec’s physical and emotional response, comparing the kiss to being “struck by lightning.” The description of a jolt underscores the all-consuming nature of desire and excitement, highlighting the overwhelming strength of Alec’s attraction to Dani. The abrupt stop in the sentence leaves suspends the tension, capturing the raw, electric chemistry between the two characters and imbuing the moment with a visceral charge.

“Kissing her felt like razor-sharp relief, like we’d been denied a thousand fucking perfect kisses in our lifetime and were finally allowed to feast.”

This line uses simile and hyperbole to convey the intensity of Alec and Dani’s kiss. They find the moment both thrilling and painful, as it is a release of their long-suppressed desire. The exaggeration highlights the tension and longing that have built up between them over time. The word “feast” equates the kiss with a satiation after years of metaphorical “starvation,” suggesting that the kiss is physically and viscerally satisfying. On a more abstract level, the kiss represents the culmination of their unresolved history and growing connection, showing how deeply intertwined their attraction and past experiences are.

“This hybrid version of Dani Collins—part who she used to be and part something new—was someone I wanted.”

The longing tone of this line portrays Alec’s struggle with the mixture of past and present in his view of Dani. The phrase “hybrid version” stresses that she has changed, blending familiar childhood traits with new qualities shaped by her experiences. His longing for this version of Dani shows that he values both her past and her present self. The ellipsis and open-ended phrasing indicate a complex mix of yearning and reflection, as he is still processing his feelings.

“I always felt like the cafeteria was the high school equivalent of the yard at prison.”

Dani’s comparison of the cafeteria to a prison yard employs humor and metaphor to show her anxiety and sense of social danger. The image highlights the perceived social hierarchy and territorial feelings that often arise among teenage peers, and it is clear that Dani has challenges with the fine art of social navigation. Her reference to a prison also makes use of hyperbole as she exaggerates the stakes to emphasize her ingrained fear of “mean-girl” behavior. With a cynical, self-aware tone, Dani uses humor to cope with her own insecurities. However, her initial caution in a new school set the stage for her growth in forming genuine friendships.

“I leaned into being Zeus and acting like I was unfazed (Dani called it my puckboy personality), but the truth was that I felt like a nervous kid, scared little Alec afraid to fuck up at sports.”

This line shows the difference between Alec’s public persona and his private vulnerability. The Zeus persona represents the confident, star-athlete image that he is expected to project, while the admission that he feels like a “nervous kid” reveals his insecurity and fear of failure. The phrase “puckboy personality” adds a touch of humor and intimacy, showing how Dani sees through his façade. The passage therefore highlights the challenges of constructing identity, emphasizing that Alec’s self-worth has been tied to performance rather than to authentic expression.

“[M]aybe it was okay to feel more with him. Maybe it was okay to be more with him, because he was the exception.”

This line captures Dani’s internal shift as she allows herself to recognize deeper feelings for Alec. The repetition emphasizes her hesitancy and the gradual acceptance of vulnerability, for Alec invites her to expand both emotionally and personally, challenging her usual guardedness. Calling him “the exception” recognizes his unique role in her life, in that this connection defies the patterns of her past relationships. By this point, Dani is beginning to trust in intimacy and the possibility of love.

“I’d heard of people seeing red when they were angry, but for me it was like I went blind.”

Metaphor and sensory imagery convey the intensity of Alec’s anger at the climactic moment between him and Benji. Comparing his experience to going blind emphasizes how overwhelming and all-consuming his emotions are, leaving him unable to think clearly or control his actions. The reference to the common phrase “seeing red” shows that his reaction exceeds ordinary anger and becomes physical.

“Just realizing that the one thing I can always count on is that I can’t count on you.”

Alec feels betrayed and heartbroken after Dani ends their relationship. The line also reflects The Weight of Unresolved History, as past patterns of perceived abandonment amplify his pain in the present. The moment highlights the miscommunication trope, and as he delivers this raw, honest expression of his disappointment, the bitter tone is exacerbated by the fact that Dani has no idea why he holds resentment toward her over the past.

“I nodded, surprised I could feel this heaviness in my chest again, the massive weight of disappointment.”

In this scene, Dani has an emotional response to her father’s decision to leave without saying goodbye, and the passage uses physical imagery to make her emotional pain tangible and immediate. Calling it a “massive weight” amplifies the sense of burden, showing that her father’s actions continue to affect her even after his recurring habit of letting her down. Her words emphasize the ongoing impact of their strained relationship, suggesting that her strained relationship with her dad undermines her ability to trust others as well.

“You are our friend and we’re here for you.”

With this steadfast assertion, Cassie establishes her role as a supportive and loyal friend, demonstrating the strength of Dani’s friendships beyond her connection with Alec. The straightforward reassurance emphasizes Cassie’s unconditional support, and her genuine tone grounds Dani, granting her a moment of emotional stability that she has never before experienced in female friendships.

“Just when I thought my dad and I were moving forward, we were moving two steps back. It was soul-crushing.”

Dani expresses her frustration and heartbreak upon realizing the central role that her father played in her years-long misunderstanding with Alec. Shocked at the realization that he threw away Alec’s coded postcards without telling her, she must now contend with this gargantuan setback in her emotional progress and the cyclical nature of her strained relationship with her father. The author’s use of hyperbole and emotional imagery also convey the depths of Dani’s disappointment.

“As it turned out, karma was a five-minute major. And grounds for suspension.”

This line uses humor and irony to describe the consequences of Benji’s actions as “karma” catching up to him. The phrase “five-minute major” refers to hockey penalties and emphasizes the novel’s hockey motif, underscoring the seriousness of Benji’s recklessness. The passage also reinforces Benji’s role as an antagonistic force while providing a sense of poetic justice.

“I shook my head, knowing I needed to dissuade him while at the same time wanting to lock those words in a box under my bed so I could reread them every night before falling asleep.”

This line shows Dani’s mixed feelings as she expresses her disbelief and her desire to cherish Alec’s confession. The image of locking his words away highlights her wish to keep the moment private. At the same time, her hesitation reveals her vulnerability and uncertainty about her feelings, capturing the excitement of a new romance and the warmth of their shared past.