For about two years they were in love, until that fall of 1981, when one of them wasn’t, which set into motion a series of dreadful events. I had been infatuated with both of them but I never admitted to either one that it was actually love.
-- Narrator (Chapter 1)

Importance: Bret refers to Thom and Susan, the most popular couple at Berkley, in this quote. He suggests that it was because they broke up that terrible things happened to them and their friends.

Despite the chill of disappointment I felt about Ryan leaving the Schaffers’ earlier I can now attest that Sunday in September was one of the last nights, if not the last night, I was ever fully happy and there was no fear.
-- Narrator (Chapter 2)

Importance: Bret is disappointed that Ryan left the party because Bret was interested in approaching him as a possible sexual partner. Bret notes that he remembers this night because...