The floating of steam above the teacher's coffee cup
The narrator (Will Shea) describes the floating of steam above the teacher's coffee cup using a simile in which he directly compares it to the floating of an empty thought bubble. This direct comparison enhances imagery in the description: "Steam from his Connaughton Academy coffee cup floats above his head like an empty thought bubble."
The description of how the words came out of the narrator's mouth
Will Shea says that the words during his introduction to the other people in his class came out in angular lumps as if he had coughed up a block of wooden alphabets. This expression adds intensity and emphasis to the difficulty that he was having in bringing himself to speak in front of his classmates: "The words come out of me in an angular lump, like I’ve coughed up a wooden alphabet block."
The description of Andrea's beauty
As Will speaks in front of the class, he is quickly captivated by Andrea's beauty. He says that Andrea was pretty in a way that he'd never seen before: "She’s pretty in a way that I haven’t seen before, like a Jazz Age flapper in the post-Twilight era, jet-black hair swept away from her forehead in a smooth, precise wave, and very dark, full eyes."
The creaminess of Andrea's perfume
The narrator says that Andrea's perfume was faint and musky with a hint of creaminess. He then uses a simile to compare this creaminess to vanilla: "She sits down close enough that I can smell her perfume, something faint and musky, with a hint of creaminess, like vanilla."
The taste of the prime ribs
The narrator says that the prime ribs on his plates tasted so good that he did not know what to do with it like a foreign language. This direct comparison of the tasty nature of the ribs on the narrator's tongue to a foreign language plays the role of enhancing imagery and a deeper understanding of the taste in question: "It tastes so good that for a second my tongue doesn’t know what to do with it, like a foreign language composed exclusively of deliciousness."
