How we cite our quotes: Citations follow this format: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #7
What did he mean by telling me a story like that! I didn't want to hear any more of it. Not now or ever. I didn't care because it had nothing to do with me. And I didn't want to hear any more of it. Ever (10.82).
Gene is lying to himself again. What bothers Gene so much about Leper's visions is precisely this – they have everything to do with him, and with Phineas. Shifting identities is one of the many horrifying transformations going down at the Devon school.
Quote #8
Finny turned toward me. "You were down at the bottom, weren't you? he asked, not in the official courtroom tone he had used before, but in a friend's voice (11.147).
Finny so much fears his friend's betrayal that he has altered the past in his mind to avoid facing the truth.
Quote #9
I listened so hard that I nearly differentiated it from the others, and it seemed to be saying, "Finny, give that bone the old college try."
I was quite the card tonight myself (12.13-4).
After Finny's second fall, Gene deflects his fear in a variety of ways, first with objective reporting and secondly, as we see here, with humor.