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Like, I know he’s popular, everyone loves him, but can he even play? Does he even like sports? Everyone knows he’s gay.
This quote takes place in “Meet,” when Nick’s teammates on the rugby team are incredulous when he suggests that Charlie would make a good player. Nick has seen Charlie run and has heard the other Year 10s saying that no one can keep up with Charlie in a race. So, Nick understands that Charlie has the potential to be a good rugby player, even if he’s not a star or a standout. The other boys, however, immediately resort to what little they know about gay men, which appears to be that they are effeminate, fussy, or bookish. Their response shows how little they know about the spectrum of people who identify as gay, and it puts their season at risk, since without another reserve they might not qualify for intramurals.
I’ve heard Nick’s had a crush on a girl called Tara Jones from Higgs school for, like, 3 years or something.
This quote takes place in the March section of “Crush,” when Tao replies to a text from Charlie with a rumor about Nick’s love life. Tao expresses concern on a few occasions that Charlie is setting himself up for heartbreak by falling in love with a straight boy. While Charlie watches Nick play in a rugby match, he texts Tao about the ways their relationship is changing, becoming more physical. Charlie appears to be seeking assurance from his friend that Nick could be interested in him romantically. But instead of reacting to the evidence, Tao relies on his stereotyped assumptions of Nick’s sexuality. Tao effectively tells Charlie that he should not trust his own experiences or impressions because of a rumor about Nick. This quote emphasizes the real harm that stereotypes can do, as Tao potentially upends a budding romance and fails to give Charlie the support he seeks.
You can’t tell whether people are gay by what they look like. And gay or straight aren’t the only two options. Anyway, it’s very rude to speculate about people’s sexuality.
This quote from Miss Singh takes place in the April section of “Crush,” as she confronts the rugby team’s gossiping and speculation about the nature of Charlie and Nick’s relationship. Throughout the novel, Charlie and Nick’s peers make assumptions about the boys based on stereotypical or fixed ideas about gender and sexuality. Here, Miss Singh serves as a voice of reason, guiding the rugby players towards a more nuanced and respectful view of sexuality. In pointing out how rude it is to make speculations about people’s sexuality, she also becomes one of the few voices of authority in the book that reaches out to the teenagers and disrupts the kind of bullying that has marked Charlie’s life since he was outted in Year 9. Miss Singh offers a mature perspective to counter the teenagers’ still-developing understanding of identity, gender, and sexuality.
