(Kids his own age, kids who are his friends, are what give Eddie his bravery. They make it easy to forget that he's not as weak as his mother's convinced him, they make it easy to forget that he's not actually sick. Once he stops being such a headcase, he's actually got a pretty good spine.)

Your dad is here?

(Now that's intriguing for multiple reasons. He didn't know anyone had family here. He also had never had a father of his own that he could remember.

It's a pretty fair concern to have. But Eddie read comic books and was young enough that he could believe stuff pretty easily.)

It's what's called a 'simile'. You have metaphors and you have similes. (They had just learned about this in English.)

I don't actually really get why 'bitch' is used because 'bitch' means a lot of things. Bitches are female dogs, but a bitch can also be a mean girl or a guy who's acting like a pansy. Bitching can mean you're complaining about something- like 'stop bitching!' But uh- 'hurt like a bitch' is like you'll get hurt and you'll be pissed about it. Cause sometimes getting hurt makes you angry. I think that's what it means anyway.

(Explaining sexism without understanding the existence of sexism is hard.

He wants to sound smart too but he's also not the most clever in their group. He's not the stupidest either but he was still only twelve.)