Because, just as it is in Malibu’s nature to burn, so was it in one particular person’s nature to set fire and walk away.
-- Narrator (“Malibu Catches Fire”)

Importance: Reid foreshadows that someone, a person with a habit of causing problems and then walking away, will start a fire at Nina’s party. This foreshadowing sets the tone for the novel as the reader reads with the intent of determining who might start the fire.

Jay spared Lara any more of the details, but told her the worst part. ‘I should stop surfing. It could kill me.
-- Jay (“10:00 a.m.”)

Importance: Jay, a competition surfer, has received devastating news from his doctor. He has a heart condition and has to stop surfing. Jay is impressed with Lara when she tells him that he will find something else to do, making it appear the news is not as devastating as Jay believed it was when he first heard...