“But police are questioning whether the shot that took down Leftman was an accident or a double suicide gone awry.”

Hate List employs newspaper articles at the start of chapters to provide details about specific victims of the shooting; this quote is from the first article. Given that Valerie narrates the novel, the articles help orient readers to the situation outside her subjective thoughts. This one in particular introduces the protagonist and narrator, Valerie, before she begins narrating, sparking the reader’s interest. First, the article discusses a school shooting, which is lurid enough. Second, readers find out about Valerie’s injury. However, this quote suggests Valerie may also have been involved in the shooting. 

“Ever since I was a little kid, every time I got into trouble, I’d lie on my bed and stare at those horses and imagine myself hopping on one of them and riding away.” 

Valerie, facing the prospect of her first day back at Garvin High after the shooting, seeks an escape, yet again, from the troubles she faces. Valerie locates anything she can to escape the reality of her life. Rather than confronting her fears, her dark nature, and her bullies, she looks to the horses to take her away, but they remain motionless, unable to help her.

“‘It’ll be tough,’ Dr. Hieler had warned, ‘You’re going to have to face a lot of dragons.’” 

This references a common literary symbol, the dragon, a biblical and mythical allusion that guards a gate leading to a hero or heroine’s goal. For Valerie, Dr. Hieler refers to her bullies, those that choose to remember her as a villain, but he also refers to her inner demons, how she bullies herself and blames herself for what happened.