Everything is so quiet.
-- Cece (Chapter 1 paragraph 3)

Importance: Following Cece’s bout with meningitis, Cece develops deafness, though she doesn’t understand it at first. To Cece, everything is quiet, but she doesn’t equate the quiet surroundings with hearing loss.

An amazing thing happens inside the booth: I hear a beep!
-- Cece (Chapter 2 paragraph 20)

Importance: Following the realization that Cece has hearing loss, her parents take her to an audiology specialist, who runs tests on Cece. While undergoing the tests, Cece can hear beeps –the first such sounds she has heard in two weeks since being at the hospital.

Emma and I have always looked different from each other, but in ways that didn’t matter.
-- Cece (Chapter 3 paragraph 3)

Importance: Prior to Cece’s deafness, physical appearance matters little to none at all to her. She notes that she and her best friend, Emma, have always looked different, but it has never mattered at all until Cece must wear a hearing...