Five Feet Apart

by

Rachael Lippincott

Stella Grant Character Analysis

Stella, the novel’s protagonist, is a high school senior with cystic fibrosis. Stella’s illness has caused her to spend many extended periods throughout her life in Saint Grace’s Hospital, where the novel takes place. Stella skips her school trip to Mexico to stay at the hospital because her lung function is rapidly deteriorating. Since her older sister Abby died unexpectedly, Stella struggles with grief and survivor’s guilt, and she is determined to stay alive for as long as possible for the sake of her parents’ wellbeing. Her attitude changes, though, when she falls in love with Will, another cystic fibrosis patient who has the deadly infection B. cepacia, which would certainly kill Stella if she contracted it. Stella shouldn’t get within six feet of Will if she doesn’t want to risk infection, but over the course of the novel Stella learns to let go of her guilt around her family and death, and she learns that some risks are worth taking.

Stella Grant Quotes in Five Feet Apart

The Five Feet Apart quotes below are all either spoken by Stella Grant or refer to Stella Grant. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Love and Sacrifice Theme Icon
).
Chapter 1: Stella Quotes

It’s not like I don’t want to go. It’s just, quite literally, a matter of life or death. I can’t go off to Cabo, or anywhere for that matter, and risk not coming back. I can’t do that to my parents. Not now.

Related Characters: Stella Grant (speaker), Abby Grant, Stella’s Mom, Stella’s Dad, Camila and Mya
Page Number: 4
Explanation and Analysis:

I close my eyes and take a deep breath, hearing the familiar wheeze of my lungs trying desperately to fill with air through the sea of mucus. Exhaling slowly, I slap a big Hallmark-greeting-card smile on my face before opening my eyes and pressing the enter key to go live.

Related Characters: Stella Grant (speaker), Will Newman , Abby Grant
Page Number: 10
Explanation and Analysis:

Lying back, I pick up the worn panda resting on my pillows and wrap my arms tightly around him. Patches, my sister, Abby, named him. And what a fitting name that became. The years of coming in and out of the hospital with me have certainly taken their toll on him.

Related Characters: Stella Grant (speaker), Abby Grant, Stella’s Mom, Stella’s Dad
Related Symbols: Patches
Page Number: 13
Explanation and Analysis:

We’ve fought CF together for a freaking decade. Well, together from a safe distance, anyway. We can’t get too close to each other. For cystic fibrosis patients, cross-infection from certain bacteria strains is a huge risk. One touch between two CFers can literally kill the both of them.

Related Characters: Stella Grant (speaker), Will Newman , Poe
Page Number: 17
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 2: Will Quotes

There are a lot of things that piss me off about CF, but that’s not one of them. Pretty much all guys with CF are infertile, which at least means I don’t have to worry about getting anyone pregnant and starting my own shit show of a family.

Related Characters: Will Newman (speaker), Stella Grant, Will’s Mom
Page Number: 26
Explanation and Analysis:

“Lighten up, Stella,” I say, sauntering to the door. “It’s just life. It’ll be over before we know it.”

Related Characters: Will Newman (speaker), Stella Grant
Page Number: 29
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 3: Stella Quotes

But walking around the hospital without a mask on? It’s no wonder he got it in the first place, pulling stunts like that. I’ve seen his type in the hospital more times than I can count. The careless, Braveheart type, rebelling in a desperate attempt to defy their diagnosis before it all comes to an end.

Related Characters: Stella Grant (speaker), Will Newman
Page Number: 38
Explanation and Analysis:

“He’s choking! Poe’s choking!” I shout, tears filling my eyes as I fly down the hallway behind Julie, pulling on a face mask as I go. She bursts through the door ahead of me and goes to check the beeping monitor. I’m scared to look. I’m scared to see Poe suffering. I’m scared to see Poe…Fine.

Related Characters: Stella Grant (speaker), Poe, Julie
Page Number: 46
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 4: Will Quotes

Probably because for the first time in eight months, I’m a car ride away from home. Home. Where Hope and Jason are. Where my old classmates are slowly chugging their way to finals, shooting for whatever Ivy League school their parents selected for them. Where my bedroom, my freaking life, really, sits empty and unlived in.

Related Characters: Will Newman (speaker), Stella Grant, Poe
Page Number: 59
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 5: Stella Quotes

He stops, leg floating off the edge. One more step and he would have fallen. One more step and he would have…

Related Characters: Stella Grant (speaker), Will Newman , Abby Grant
Page Number: 65
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 8: Will Quotes

But as I roll over and turn out the light, I realize for the first time in a long time, I don’t really feel alone.

Related Characters: Will Newman (speaker), Stella Grant
Page Number: 97
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 9: Stella Quotes

“You ever think about, I don’t know…traveling the world or something?” I look back down to see number 27, “Sistine Chapel with Abby.” No line through it.

Related Characters: Stella Grant (speaker), Will Newman (speaker), Abby Grant, Camila and Mya
Page Number: 104
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 11: Stella Quotes

Even before they knew me, they did their very best to help me feel like Saint Grace’s Hospital was my second home from the moment I got there. But, of everyone, it was Abby who really did that. She gave me three invaluable gifts that day.

Related Characters: Stella Grant (speaker), Poe, Abby Grant
Related Symbols: Patches
Page Number: 122
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 12: Will Quotes

For me, it was easy to give up. It was easy to fight my treatments and focus on the time I do have. Stop working so damn hard for just a few seconds more. But Stella and Poe are making me want every second more that I can get.

Related Characters: Will Newman (speaker), Stella Grant, Poe, Will’s Mom
Page Number: 132
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 13: Stella Quotes

A bushel and a peck and a hug around the neck.

Related Characters: Will Newman (speaker), Stella Grant, Abby Grant
Page Number: 140
Explanation and Analysis:

I see Abby, right there in front of me, blurry at first and then as clear as day. My dad’s curly hair, and her larger-than-life smile, and her hazel eyes identical to my own.

“…more…time…”

She’s pushing me away from the light.

Related Characters: Stella Grant (speaker), Abby Grant (speaker)
Page Number: 142
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 14: Will Quotes

Stella’s been taking care of all of us. Her mom, her dad, me. I keep counting down to eighteen, to being an adult, holding the reins. Maybe it’s time I actually acted like it.

Related Characters: Will Newman (speaker), Stella Grant, Abby Grant, Stella’s Mom, Stella’s Dad
Page Number: 146
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 16: Will Quotes

Cystic fibrosis will steal no more from me. From now on, I am the thief.

Related Characters: Stella Grant (speaker), Will Newman
Page Number: 172
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 18: Will Quotes

I think about that very last breath. Sucking for air. Pulling and pulling and getting nothing. I think about my chest muscles ripping and burning, absolutely useless. No air. No nothing. Just black.

Related Characters: Will Newman (speaker), Stella Grant, Abby Grant
Page Number: 184
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 19: Stella Quotes

“She’d make a wish and she’d never, ever tell me what it was. She used to joke that if she said it out loud, it would never come true.” The tiny pinpoints of light twinkle in the distance, calling out to me, as if Abby is out there now. “But I knew. She wished for new lungs for me.”

Related Characters: Stella Grant (speaker), Abby Grant (speaker), Will Newman , Poe
Related Symbols: Holiday Lights
Page Number: 189
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 20: Will Quotes

Without me, my mom is all alone. All this time I thought she only saw my disease. A problem you fix. But, instead, she was looking right at me, trying to get me to fight alongside her, when all I did was fight her tooth and nail.

Related Characters: Will Newman (speaker), Stella Grant, Poe, Will’s Mom
Page Number: 198
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 21: Stella Quotes

“I never even hugged him. Never. Don’t touch! Don’t stand too close. Don’t, don’t, don’t!” I scream out, hysterical, coughing, dizzy. “He was my best friend and I never hugged him.” And I never will. The feeling is so horribly familiar, I can’t stand it.

Related Characters: Stella Grant (speaker), Will Newman , Poe, Abby Grant
Related Symbols: Holiday Lights
Page Number: 217
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 25: Stella Quotes

I take a deep breath, letting out a relieved sigh that I’ve been holding for more than a year now. My chest heaves suddenly, and I begin to cough, water pouring out of my mouth.

Related Characters: Stella Grant (speaker), Will Newman , Abby Grant
Related Symbols: Patches
Page Number: 243
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 30: Will Quotes

We need that touch from the one we love, almost as much as we need air to breathe. I never understood the importance of touch, his touch…until I couldn’t have it.

Related Characters: Stella Grant (speaker), Will Newman
Page Number: 270
Explanation and Analysis:
Get the entire Five Feet Apart LitChart as a printable PDF.
Five Feet Apart PDF

Stella Grant Quotes in Five Feet Apart

The Five Feet Apart quotes below are all either spoken by Stella Grant or refer to Stella Grant. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Love and Sacrifice Theme Icon
).
Chapter 1: Stella Quotes

It’s not like I don’t want to go. It’s just, quite literally, a matter of life or death. I can’t go off to Cabo, or anywhere for that matter, and risk not coming back. I can’t do that to my parents. Not now.

Related Characters: Stella Grant (speaker), Abby Grant, Stella’s Mom, Stella’s Dad, Camila and Mya
Page Number: 4
Explanation and Analysis:

I close my eyes and take a deep breath, hearing the familiar wheeze of my lungs trying desperately to fill with air through the sea of mucus. Exhaling slowly, I slap a big Hallmark-greeting-card smile on my face before opening my eyes and pressing the enter key to go live.

Related Characters: Stella Grant (speaker), Will Newman , Abby Grant
Page Number: 10
Explanation and Analysis:

Lying back, I pick up the worn panda resting on my pillows and wrap my arms tightly around him. Patches, my sister, Abby, named him. And what a fitting name that became. The years of coming in and out of the hospital with me have certainly taken their toll on him.

Related Characters: Stella Grant (speaker), Abby Grant, Stella’s Mom, Stella’s Dad
Related Symbols: Patches
Page Number: 13
Explanation and Analysis:

We’ve fought CF together for a freaking decade. Well, together from a safe distance, anyway. We can’t get too close to each other. For cystic fibrosis patients, cross-infection from certain bacteria strains is a huge risk. One touch between two CFers can literally kill the both of them.

Related Characters: Stella Grant (speaker), Will Newman , Poe
Page Number: 17
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 2: Will Quotes

There are a lot of things that piss me off about CF, but that’s not one of them. Pretty much all guys with CF are infertile, which at least means I don’t have to worry about getting anyone pregnant and starting my own shit show of a family.

Related Characters: Will Newman (speaker), Stella Grant, Will’s Mom
Page Number: 26
Explanation and Analysis:

“Lighten up, Stella,” I say, sauntering to the door. “It’s just life. It’ll be over before we know it.”

Related Characters: Will Newman (speaker), Stella Grant
Page Number: 29
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 3: Stella Quotes

But walking around the hospital without a mask on? It’s no wonder he got it in the first place, pulling stunts like that. I’ve seen his type in the hospital more times than I can count. The careless, Braveheart type, rebelling in a desperate attempt to defy their diagnosis before it all comes to an end.

Related Characters: Stella Grant (speaker), Will Newman
Page Number: 38
Explanation and Analysis:

“He’s choking! Poe’s choking!” I shout, tears filling my eyes as I fly down the hallway behind Julie, pulling on a face mask as I go. She bursts through the door ahead of me and goes to check the beeping monitor. I’m scared to look. I’m scared to see Poe suffering. I’m scared to see Poe…Fine.

Related Characters: Stella Grant (speaker), Poe, Julie
Page Number: 46
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 4: Will Quotes

Probably because for the first time in eight months, I’m a car ride away from home. Home. Where Hope and Jason are. Where my old classmates are slowly chugging their way to finals, shooting for whatever Ivy League school their parents selected for them. Where my bedroom, my freaking life, really, sits empty and unlived in.

Related Characters: Will Newman (speaker), Stella Grant, Poe
Page Number: 59
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 5: Stella Quotes

He stops, leg floating off the edge. One more step and he would have fallen. One more step and he would have…

Related Characters: Stella Grant (speaker), Will Newman , Abby Grant
Page Number: 65
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 8: Will Quotes

But as I roll over and turn out the light, I realize for the first time in a long time, I don’t really feel alone.

Related Characters: Will Newman (speaker), Stella Grant
Page Number: 97
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 9: Stella Quotes

“You ever think about, I don’t know…traveling the world or something?” I look back down to see number 27, “Sistine Chapel with Abby.” No line through it.

Related Characters: Stella Grant (speaker), Will Newman (speaker), Abby Grant, Camila and Mya
Page Number: 104
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 11: Stella Quotes

Even before they knew me, they did their very best to help me feel like Saint Grace’s Hospital was my second home from the moment I got there. But, of everyone, it was Abby who really did that. She gave me three invaluable gifts that day.

Related Characters: Stella Grant (speaker), Poe, Abby Grant
Related Symbols: Patches
Page Number: 122
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 12: Will Quotes

For me, it was easy to give up. It was easy to fight my treatments and focus on the time I do have. Stop working so damn hard for just a few seconds more. But Stella and Poe are making me want every second more that I can get.

Related Characters: Will Newman (speaker), Stella Grant, Poe, Will’s Mom
Page Number: 132
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 13: Stella Quotes

A bushel and a peck and a hug around the neck.

Related Characters: Will Newman (speaker), Stella Grant, Abby Grant
Page Number: 140
Explanation and Analysis:

I see Abby, right there in front of me, blurry at first and then as clear as day. My dad’s curly hair, and her larger-than-life smile, and her hazel eyes identical to my own.

“…more…time…”

She’s pushing me away from the light.

Related Characters: Stella Grant (speaker), Abby Grant (speaker)
Page Number: 142
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 14: Will Quotes

Stella’s been taking care of all of us. Her mom, her dad, me. I keep counting down to eighteen, to being an adult, holding the reins. Maybe it’s time I actually acted like it.

Related Characters: Will Newman (speaker), Stella Grant, Abby Grant, Stella’s Mom, Stella’s Dad
Page Number: 146
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 16: Will Quotes

Cystic fibrosis will steal no more from me. From now on, I am the thief.

Related Characters: Stella Grant (speaker), Will Newman
Page Number: 172
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 18: Will Quotes

I think about that very last breath. Sucking for air. Pulling and pulling and getting nothing. I think about my chest muscles ripping and burning, absolutely useless. No air. No nothing. Just black.

Related Characters: Will Newman (speaker), Stella Grant, Abby Grant
Page Number: 184
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 19: Stella Quotes

“She’d make a wish and she’d never, ever tell me what it was. She used to joke that if she said it out loud, it would never come true.” The tiny pinpoints of light twinkle in the distance, calling out to me, as if Abby is out there now. “But I knew. She wished for new lungs for me.”

Related Characters: Stella Grant (speaker), Abby Grant (speaker), Will Newman , Poe
Related Symbols: Holiday Lights
Page Number: 189
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 20: Will Quotes

Without me, my mom is all alone. All this time I thought she only saw my disease. A problem you fix. But, instead, she was looking right at me, trying to get me to fight alongside her, when all I did was fight her tooth and nail.

Related Characters: Will Newman (speaker), Stella Grant, Poe, Will’s Mom
Page Number: 198
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 21: Stella Quotes

“I never even hugged him. Never. Don’t touch! Don’t stand too close. Don’t, don’t, don’t!” I scream out, hysterical, coughing, dizzy. “He was my best friend and I never hugged him.” And I never will. The feeling is so horribly familiar, I can’t stand it.

Related Characters: Stella Grant (speaker), Will Newman , Poe, Abby Grant
Related Symbols: Holiday Lights
Page Number: 217
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 25: Stella Quotes

I take a deep breath, letting out a relieved sigh that I’ve been holding for more than a year now. My chest heaves suddenly, and I begin to cough, water pouring out of my mouth.

Related Characters: Stella Grant (speaker), Will Newman , Abby Grant
Related Symbols: Patches
Page Number: 243
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 30: Will Quotes

We need that touch from the one we love, almost as much as we need air to breathe. I never understood the importance of touch, his touch…until I couldn’t have it.

Related Characters: Stella Grant (speaker), Will Newman
Page Number: 270
Explanation and Analysis: