Eleanor and Park

“The new girl took a deep breath and stepped farther down the aisle. Nobody would look at her” 

This quote refers to the moment that the oddly-dressed Eleanor first gets on the school bus and no one wants to let her sit with them. Park finally can’t stand seeing her being refused anymore, so he scoots over to let her sit down. 

“Park spent the day trying to think of how to get away from the new girl. He’d have to switch seats. That was the only answer” 

This quote suggests that Park initially disliked Eleanor, whom he found quite strange. He wanted to distance himself from her so that his bullies would not bother him, but he ends up falling in love with her. 

“Choose a romantic poem, that’s my advice. You’ll get the most use out of it” 

Mr. Stressman, Park and Eleanor’s English teacher, gives this advice to his class in regard to a poetry assignment that he has just given out. He implores his students to learn a love poem for the assignment, as they will be useful in the future. Funnily enough, Park starts to fall for Eleanor after she recites hers.