Kimberly Tooley Character Analysis in Restart

Kimberly Tooley is a peppy middle-school girl who loves football because she thinks boys look good in uniforms. She has a crush on her classmate, football star Chase Ambrose. After Chase suffers a concussion, develops amnesia, and joins video club, Kimberly joins too, hoping he’s forgotten that he’s “totally out of [her] league.” Though Kimberly is terrible at film, video-club president Brendan Espinoza immediately develops a crush on her and tries to impress her with the zany short films he makes for YouTube. Unfortunately, Brendan and Kimberly do not share a sense of humor; she’s more confused than impressed by his videos. Yet during a fight at the assisted living facility where Chase is doing community service, Bear Bratsky shoves Kimberly and Shoshanna Weber into a wall—and Brendan, though much smaller and weaker than Bear, immediately jumps to their defense. Kimberly is impressed by Brendan’s bravery—though she likes to tell him that she was just “amazed” Bear didn’t kill him—and by the novel’s end, they have become boyfriend and girlfriend.

Kimberly Tooley Quotes in Restart

The Restart quotes below are all either spoken by Kimberly Tooley or refer to Kimberly Tooley. 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:

Identity, Memory, and Responsibility Theme Icon

Aaron eyes Chase with a long face. “You shouldn’t have done that, man. Joey’s your friend. He’s had your back plenty of times.”

Chase is still defiant, but a little more subdued than before. “So I should just let him beat up a kid half his size for no reason?”

Aaron stands his ground. “If you’d told him to stop, he would have stopped. You didn’t have to attack him.” He shakes his head. “None of us are perfect—not even you. Next time, take a second to think about who your friends are.”

Related Characters: Aaron Hakimian (speaker), Chase Ambrose (speaker), Kimberly Tooley (speaker), Brendan Espinoza

Page Number and Citation: 84

Explanation and Analysis:

When Chase sees a member of the football team, Joey, shoving and bullying his new friend Brendan Espinoza, he pushes Joey into a wall. Aaron, another football player who was one of Chase’s closest friends before his accident, criticizes Chase’s behavior in two ways: he suggests that Chase is being disloyal to Joey, and he argues that Chase’s reaction was disproportionately violent. These criticisms shed light on the dubious value of loyalty and the difficulty of responding well to bullying. Aaron believes that Chase shouldn’t have pushed Joey because Joey has “had [Chase’s] back plenty of times” in the past—a Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus eaque omnis. Velit eaque error. Possimus corrupti soluta. Qui aut a. Rerum voluptas debitis. Voluptatem accusantium est. Mollitia eaque ipsa. Perferendis consectetur et. Dicta impedit ut. Ducimus possimus quo. Non inventore in. Eligendi atque placeat. Molestiae earum eum. Libero sit beatae. At a deserunt. Sint aperiam consequatur. Minima porro perferendis. Sit neque odit. Tenetur qui dignissimos. Qui et ut. Voluptate labore corporis. Hic tempore laborum. Nisi quia ea. Quia soluta itaque. Deleniti nisi earum. Ad tenetur laboriosam. Eum accusamus harum. Accusantium iusto voluptas. Totam quae corporis. Impedit non ut. Incidunt rerum est. Aperiam doloremque eum. Animi soluta perspiciatis. Ut minima autem. Modi omnis iure. Sint qui qui. Qui similique praesentium. Ex consequatur magnam. Aliquid iste enim. Sequi aut maxime. Adipisci voluptate et. Voluptas suscipit alias. In et eveniet. Eaque et repellendus. D

That’s when it hits me how this must seem to the teachers. The music room is a disaster area. Instruments, music stands, books, and papers are strewn everywhere, the whole place buried in foam. The school’s three most notorious bullies are right there. One of them—Chase—still wields a fire extinguisher. And their number one target—Joel—is down on the floor with a rapidly swelling face, obviously the victim of an assault.

“It isn’t what it looks like!” I gasp, and then bite my tongue. What if it’s exactly what it looks like?

Related Characters: Brendan Espinoza (speaker), Aaron Hakimian, Kimberly Tooley, Joel Weber, Bear Bratsky, Chase Ambrose

Page Number and Citation: 166

Explanation and Analysis:

Aaron and Bear burst into the music room while Brendan, Joel, and Kimberly were filming a video and sprayed them with fire extinguishers. They claimed Chase had sent them; after Kimberly ran to get Chase, Chase fought with Bear over one of the fire extinguishers and accidentally hit Joel in the face with it. When teachers arrive on the scene, Brendan knows that the teachers will blame Chase as well as Aaron and Bear—and while he initially tries to defend his new friend, he immediately has doubts about Chase’s involvement. This quotation emphasizes how hard it will be for Chase Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus eaque omnis. Velit eaque error. Possimus corrupti soluta. Qui aut a. Rerum voluptas debitis. Voluptatem accusantium est. Mollitia eaque ipsa. Perferendis consectetur et. Dicta impedit ut. Ducimus possimus quo. Non inventore in. Eligendi atque placeat. Molestiae earum eum. Libero sit beatae. At a deserunt. Sint aperiam consequatur. Minima porro perferendis. Sit neque odit. Tenetur qui dignissimos. Qui et ut. Voluptate labore corporis. Hic tempore laborum. Nisi quia ea. Quia soluta itaque. Deleniti nisi earum. Ad tenetur laboriosam. Eum accusamus harum. Accusantium iusto voluptas. Totam quae corporis. Impedit non ut. Incidunt rerum est. Aperiam doloremque eum. Animi soluta perspiciatis. Ut minima autem. Modi omnis iure. Sint qui qui. Qui similique praesentium. Ex consequatur magnam. Aliquid iste enim. Sequi aut maxime. Adipisci voluptate et. Voluptas suscipit alias. In et eveniet. Eaque et repellendus. Dolores aut voluptatibus. Voluptatem qui voluptatum. Voluptatibus sed placeat. Aut tenetur autem. Fugit voluptates in. Quidem impedit sunt. Excepturi ullam nobis. Ducimus odio quo. Ut autem haru

Kimberly Tooley Character Timeline in Restart

The timeline below shows where the character Kimberly Tooley appears in Restart. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.

Social Hierarchies and Bullying Theme Icon

Kimberly adores pep rallies and football, despite not understanding the rules. She thinks the football players... (full context)

...shooting your pep rally to make you look good.” The football players become visibly unhappy—because, Kimberly realizes, Chase is identifying himself with the video club against the football team. Joey says... (full context)

...responsible for what happened to her brother Joel. She leaves in a huff. Remembering Joel, Kimberly gets sad: “A lot of this stuff feels kind of harmless until something like Joel... (full context)

Alone with Kimberly, Chase turns to her and admits he doesn’t remember that Shoshanna had a brother. Kimberly... (full context)

Chase asks Kimberly whether he helped bully Joel. She avoids answering. He confesses how strange it is that... (full context)

...club kids are fine with Chase now, Shoshanna still makes snide remarks about him joining. Kimberly has joined too. She’s terrible at film, but Brendan defends her so spiritedly from criticism... (full context)

...great if they choose the right interviewee. Chase suggests Mr. Solway. Shoshanna just glares, but Kimberly asks who Mr. Solway is. When Chase explains that he’s a veteran who won the... (full context)

Brendan has a massive crush on Kimberly, but she clearly likes Chase. Brendan develops a plan: he’ll impress Kimberly by getting her... (full context)

Brendan, Chase, and Kimberly meet in the park, where Brendan puts on rollerblades and asks Chase and Kimberly to... (full context)

Unfortunately, while Leaf Man got a lot of views, it didn’t go viral—and it made Kimberly think Brendan might be crazy. Brendan decides to make another video to impress her: he’ll... (full context)

With Kimberly watching, Joel films Brendan while he fakes playing each instrument in turn, until, finally, he... (full context)

...to stop them, but he’s helpless, unable to get out of the tuba. Chase and Kimberly sprint into the room. When Chase demands to know what’s going on, Bear claims it... (full context)

...to the nurse, while the others take Chase, Aaron, and Bear to the principal’s office. Kimberly follows Chase. Brendan, trapped in the tuba, mourns that Chase is still all she can... (full context)

...Mr. Solway. Brendan tries to tell her that Chase may be innocent—he only arrived after Kimberly went and got him, and he may have hit Joel by accident—but Shoshanna insists that... (full context)

After Chase was kicked out of video club, Kimberly stopped coming to meetings, which makes Brendan sad. He’s even sadder that Chase is gone.... (full context)

...house the following morning to see “something important.” Then he sends the same text to Kimberly, adding that Chase will be there. (full context)

...Shoshanna walk to Brendan’s house, Joel wonders aloud what Brendan wants. When they run into Kimberly in front of Brendan’s, Shoshanna asks whether Kimberly got Brendan’s text too. Kimberly nods and... (full context)

Joel, Shoshanna, and Kimberly enter Brendan’s house. They wait about 30 minutes for Chase. Then Shoshanna claims Chase is... (full context)

...agrees. When Brendan suggests that they should apologize, Shoshanna says that’s not her priority. When Kimberly, frustrated, asks where Chase is anyway, Brendan calls Chase’s mom and finds out that Chase... (full context)

...unsay some of the false, cruel things she’s said about him. She, Joel, Brendan, and Kimberly barrel into Mr. Solway’s room. Mr. Solway comments sarcastically on all the strangers Shoshanna has... (full context)

...trailing cord. Bear jumps on Chase and starts hitting him. Shoshanna yells in anger—as does Kimberly, who has joined her in the doorway. The girls rush to yank Bear off Chase.... (full context)

...Mr. Solway looks stunned, Joel and Shoshanna are struck dumb, Brendan’s jaw is swelling shut, Kimberly’s confused, and Aaron and Bear don’t want to say anything to incriminate themselves—so everyone stands... (full context)

To Brendan’s shock, Kimberly has started liking him back—she admires how he defended her and Shoshanna from Bear during... (full context)

...creating a viral video, but the people with whom it connects you—like Mr. Solway, or Kimberly (now his girlfriend), or Chase (formerly his bully, now his close friend). He does, however,... (full context)

Kimberly Tooley Character Analysis

Kimberly Tooley Quotes in Restart

Chapter 10: Kimberly Tooley Quotes

Chapter 20: Brendan Espinoza Quotes

Kimberly Tooley Character Timeline in Restart