A metaphor is a figure of speech that makes a comparison between two unrelated things. Unlike similes, metaphors usually don’t use “like” or “as” to make a comparison. Examples of metaphors in everyday life (not Tangerine, yet!) include “My best friend is a lifesaver” and “My mother is an angel.”

1. “Getting Mom to ditch my paperwork was beyond luck; it was another miracle.” Ditching Paul’s IEP paperwork isn’t actually a miracle. A miracle is an event that cannot be explained by science or logic. However, Paul’s newfound lack of an IEP shares the unexpected joy of a miraculous occurrence.
2. “I was in the far goal again. I may as well have been in Houston.” Paul compares being in the far goal during the Tangerine Middle School soccer practice to being as far removed from the game as Houston is from Florida.
3. "Lake Windsor—that team's a joke, man." Tino compares the Lake Windsor team to a joke to make the point that both are laughable. In this case, the Lake Windsor Soccer team’s skills are so far below Tangerine’s skills that the Tangerine players can only laugh at them.
4. “And mixed in with it, I could hear a sound, a predator's sound. It was the sound of Arthur Bauer's Land Cruiser on the other side of the back wall.” Paul compares Arthur Bauer’s Land Cruiser’s roar to the sound of a predator because both signal  a dangerous and potentially life-threatening arrival. Arthur and Eric are like predators because they prey on the weak and show no mercy.
5. “Of course, it wasn't really a game. It was a war.” Paul uses this metaphor to describe how the game against Palmetto Middle School because both the game and a war are brutal contests.