Jake, Reinvented
SELECT QUOTES
ENGLISH 11 - DEVINE
A closer look at:
Chapter 5
cool, mysterious, different.
But I was disappointed to see an ordinary room, maybe a
little on the cluttered side. I mean this was Jake Garrett,
the guy who appeared out of nowhere and plastered his
name onto the lips of every kid at Fitz. His parties were
the talk of the school. Girls he’s never met stuck Post-it
notes with their phone numbers on his locker, hoping to
be invited to his next Friday night bash. Freshmen made
themselves look important by being able to identify the
Garrett BMW in the parking lot. College guys treated him
as an equal. He was an absolute star, in his own way, every
bit as big as Todd Buckley. After all, most schools had a
big-man-on-campus quarterback. But Jake was something
nobody had ever seen before or ever expected – cool,
mysterious, different. (59)
Stop and consider:
 What is it about Jake that makes him
mysterious?
 What is it about Jake that makes him different?
 What is it about people that makes them want to
be a part of that?
 Why is Todd disappointed when he finally sees
the inside of Jake’s room?
 What does he actually see?
the world’s smoothest liar
 There were footsteps on the stairs. “Jeez, Jake, there
are twenty green bags on our lawn. When’s the last
time you put out the garbage?”
 And suddenly, there he was, the old Jake. An excuse
was required, and the world’s smoothest liar was
rising to the occasion.
 “Sorry, Dad. I’m doing a little house cleaning. A
couple of guys are here helping me.” (60)
What’s it called when you put on a personality
mask?
same time, same station…
 That was a pretty close call with your dad,” I said.
“Guess you’d better take a few weeks off of parties.”
 He looked surprised. “Wrong, baby. Friday night,
same time, same station.” And as I walked away
shaking my head, he called after me, “Bring
Jennifer.” (64)
What quality (ies) is Jake showing here?
Why does he insist on Jennifer coming?
Jake, Reinvented: Chapter 9
Their eyes locked…
I followed him up the fist few steps. “Fresh blood is
one thing,” I argued. “But these guys could trash your
house and not even have to look you in the eye on Monday
morning”
Talk to the wall. He was one-hundred percent gone
from me. I followed his gaze and spotted Didi talking with
some of the girls’ volleyball team.
Then she noticed him too. Their eyes locked, and I
swear the lights dimmed for a moment from the power
surge. They began to move toward each other. They were
separated by thirty feet, tops. But a good four dozen
revelers occupied the space between them. (pp. 105-6)
 What language does Rick use to show Jake’s
frame of mind?
 What imagery does Rick use to show the
power of their meeting?
lawyering of the highest order
I don’t think Jake and Didi noticed. In their minds,
they were the only two people in this jammed party house,
and quite possibly the entire planet. Didi didn’t look to me
like she was playing weekend golf. This was lawyering of
the highest order, an appearance before the Supreme
Court.
As I watched them come together, I had a sense of
two soldiers crossing an active battlefield to meet in the
middle. Dancers gyrated, drinks spilled, play-fighters
traded shoves, heavy bass shook the air. And through it all,
Jake and Didi found each other on a Friday night in late
September.
What did Rick mean when he said “Didi didn’t
look to me like she was playing weekend golf.
This was lawyering of the highest order”?
Think of another way to describe the same
situation Rick does when he says “As I watched
them come together, I had a sense of two
soldiers crossing an active battlefield…”
This party’s boring
They didn’t fall into a soulful B-movie embrace.
In fact, they didn’t touch each other at all. But you’d
have to be drunk, dense or totally self-absorbed not to
notice the magnetism between them.
Todd was all three, but even he managed to
figure it out. His face reddening, his scowl thundrous,
he waded through the mass of humanity to confront
the meeting at the bottom of the stairs.
He grabbed his girlfriend’s arm. “Let’s go, Didi.
This party’s boring.”
 What happened the last time Todd decided a
party was boring?
 What do you thing the effect of his
pronouncement will be on this one?
 Is something building here? Is there a
turning point coming?
 How do you know?
the same page
Chapter 10
 Coach Hammer was standing at the end of the




tunnel. “Come one, you three. Move it!”
Nelson pounded onto the field.
Todd grabbed my arm and held me back.
“We’re on the same page, right? Not a word to
anyone, ever!”
“Right,” I confirmed. It was true. I would never
betray him.
CONTEXT?
 What does Todd mean by “the same page”?
 Why does Rick say he’ll never betray Todd?
Sample Exam Passage Attack 1
On the first series of the game, they marched effortlessly down the field
A.
and scored. It didn’t bother us very much – we were used to stinking. But
it practically killed Dipsy, who had established himself a few rows behind
B.
the visitors’ bench. He had the section to himself and his popcorn and
chips, because most of our fans had given him a pretty wide berth. There
C.
he sat, stuffing his face until it was time to cheer…Perhaps I forgot to
D.
mention that in addition to a voice like a foghorn, Dipsy also had a mouth like
E.
a toilet.
Sample Passage Attack Questions 1-5
Which of the underlined passages:
1) ___ Is a metaphor?
2) ___ Is a simile?
3) ___ Means a lot of room?
4) ___ Is personification?
5) ___ Is description/imagery
Sample Exam Passage Attack 2
Chapter 11
Just as Jake’s parties had acquired an unpleasant taste, the tone
A.
at the school was beginning to turn ugly. The buzz was still all about Jake
– now that his long-snapping had lifted the pathetic Broncos to victory,
B.
C.
he was more famous than ever. But the speculation about him had become
suspicious, derisive. Jake had no longer dropped from heaven to
D.
provide high-quality Friday-night entertainment; he was putting something
over on us, playing us. And the mysterious attributes that had proved so
E.
irresistible before were more proof that the lowdown sneak was up to no good.
Sample Passage Attack Questions 6-10
Which of the underlined passages:
6) ___Means sad or unworthy?
7) ___ Is a simile?
8) ___ Means worthy of criticism?
9) ___ Is personification?
10) ___ Connects to a major theme?
Passage 3, Chapter 11
“Trust me,” I assured him. “If Jake arrested every
underage drinker he saw, this school would be empty.
This is crazy, Phil.”
He looked at me resentfully. “That’s not what Todd
said.”
I was instantly alert. “Todd Buckley?”
But who else could he be talking about? Actually, it
made perfect sense. Our great and exalted quarterback
had soured on Jake. Therefore it was only a matter of
time before everyone else fell into line. I love high
school. It’s a place for individuality to flourish.
 What is the TONE of the paragraph in blue?
 What is the quality (or characteristic) Nick
shows in this passage?
 What is the CONTEXT of this passage?
Passage 4, Chapter 11
But I could tell Jake was in his glory. He had Didi at
his side, seeing him treated like a big shot – at a
A.
college campus no less. It was working, too. Her look
of rapturous admiration was too total to be faked. It
B.
was eerily similar to the expression she wore when playing
C.
her other Academy Award role of God’s girlfriend.
D.
E.
Which of the underlined passages…
Which of the underlined passages:
 ___refers to Todd Buckley
 ___ refers to Didi’s hypocrisy
 ___ contains a simile
 ___ means full of joy
 ___ means in a strange way
a jagged fork of lightening
I felt her fingers burrowing into my hair,
pressing my lips against her skin too hard for bugling.
“You’re crushing the trumpet of battle,” I said in a
muffled voice.
That was when I noticed that Jennifer wasn’t
laughing anymore, or squirming to avoid my weight.
The realization was a jagged fork of lightening that
stretched from my head to a lower, less public part of
my anatomy. What was the deal here? Was this a joke?
(p. 135)
Chapter 12
But it’s a lie!
“But it’s a lie!” I’d never seen our quarterback so outraged. “He put
one over on every kid at Fitz, me included! I was as fooled as the
rest of you guys!”
If I hadn’t been so agitated, I would have laughed right in his
face. I mean, it was pretty much out in the open that his girlfriend
had been cheating on him. And what did he choose to single out as
the key injustice in the whole business? The fact that an outsider
had broken the commandment against being as happening and
popular as Todd Buckley.
 When is this happening?
 What’s ironic about the first line?
 Why doesn’t Todd condemn Jake for taking Didi?
Brainwashing
“Don’t push me,” I warned. “If it comes down to you or
Jake, I choose Jake. I’ll rat you out”
“He’s got you brainwashed! Just like Didi!”
“There’s brainwashing here, all right,” I shot back.
“But it’s not coming from Jake. It’s coming from you.
Everybody around here thinks you’re something more
than a third-rate quarterback at a third-rate school.
And you’re not! If I feed you to Nelson, the sun will
still rise tomorrow.”
What role is Rick playing now?
the sole currency of any value
“I’m not cancelling the party,” he said flatly. “I’ve
come too far to turn back now.”
“But you’ve already got Didi,” I argued. “She’s the
grand prize, right? If she really likes you, that isn’t going to
change because you skipped one Friday night. And if all she
cares about is your parties, who needs her, man?”
He hesitated. I realized that was the only way to get
through to Jake. If you tried to reason with him it went in
one ear and out the other. The only way to get his attention
was to structure your argument in terms of the sole
currency of any value to him – wanting Didi, having Didi,
keeping Didi.
What is…?
 What is the setting of this scene?
 What is the larger context?
 What does he mean by “I’ve come too far to
turn back now”?
 Identify a metaphor in the passage.
 To what does it refer?
evidence of their passion
Jake was speaking again, his persistence clear
enough, though his voice was not. Didi kept
interrupting, “No!… No!… Shut up!…” until finally she
rasped, “Why do you always have to spoil everything?
Isn’t it enough that I am with you now?”
She was back in the passenger seat in a
heartbeat. “We’re going home.” It wasn’t a suggestion.
It was a proclamation.
It took the Beamer’s defogger’s only a few
seconds to erase all evidence of their passion.
What is…?
 What is Jake asking for that is upsetting Didi?
 What does it say about Didi that she is upset over
this?
 What is it that Didi wants?
 What is the foreshadowing in this passage?
 What is it implying?
Chapter 13
The pieces were coming together…
“Didi finally told me. She finally ‘fessed up. That’s why she never
gave Jake the time of day at McKinley. The guy was a wedgie waiting to
happen”
“Give me a break –” But even as I protested, the pieces were
coming together in my mind. The honors classes, college papers, chess
trophy, math tutor…”
“It’s not so crazy, you know,” she reasoned. “Around her friends,
Didi had an image to maintain – prom queen, supermodel, who’s who in
Who’s Who. But in front of Jake, who was nobody, she could be herself.”
“And she started to like him,” I concluded.
“He was the only person she could really talk to.”
“How long did they go out for?”
She glared at me, exasperated. “They went out for zero, that’s how
long. This wasn’t the Jake you and I know.”
Cool people can have uncool friends…
“She liked him,” I persisted.
“Look,” she said. “Cool people can have uncool friends, and it’s
fine so long as they don’t expect to get invited to the same
parties, and hang out with the same crowd, and date the same
level of person. Jake was sweet, but life isn’t Revenge of the
Nerds. She hadn’t thought twice about the guys until two weeks
ago.”
No wonder Jake was so mixed up. Always thinking he had to
buy my friendship with fancy lunches or catered breakfasts;
feeling he had to have something to offer, like being himself
wasn’t enough. It certainly hadn’t been enough for Didi Ray.
“Kind of lousy,” I mumbled
What does…?
 What does Jennifer mean when she says “He
was the only person she could really talk to”?
 What does Jennifer mean when she says
“Cool people can have uncool friends, and it’s
fine so long as they don’t expect to… date the
same level of person.”
 What does Rick think is “Kind of lousy” and
why?
Caterpillars aren’t her type
“What was she supposed to do? Jennifer argued. “Chuck everything
for her math tutor? He had potential, sure. But Didi’s never been
much of a creative thinker. Caterpillars aren’t her type. She’ll only go
for a finished butterfly.”
“Maybe life is Revenge of the Nerds,” I said thoughtfully.
She nodded. “He almost pulled it off. But he couldn’t keep his mouth
shut – bugging Didi to dump Todd. Like that’s ever going to happen!”
She climbed over me, straddling my chest to look straight down into
my eyes. “Poor Jake. The whole thing is so pathetic, I almost care.”
That ended it. If she had offered up a truckload of gold bars along with
herself, I still would have said no.
 When Jennifer says “Chuck everything for
her math tutor?” what does she mean by
“everything”?
 What was it that Jake misjudged in Didi?
 What is it about him that made him misjudge
her?
the ultimate affirmation
She was the ultimate affirmation, a megaphone
blaring: I’m as good as you! Don’t I have the girl of
everybody’s fantasies right here in my arms? It must
have been enough to erase years of teasing that had
surely been directed at an exceptionally bright kid.
“Way to go, Jake,” I said aloud.
Why does…?
 Why does Rick leave Jennifer in the
bathroom right in the middle of the most
romantic moment of his life?
 When Rick says “Way to go, Jake” what is he
applauding?
Which side…?
 Which side is Jennifer on - Didi’s or Jake’s?
 What is your proof?
 Why is Rick loyal to Jake?
 Overarching Question: What is the value of
sincerity?
Chapter 14
all he’d ever wanted or cared about
When Chapter 14 opens, he has gone downstairs to a crush
of wall-to-wall people, says “the noise was up to the point
of pain” and decides to go home. But he sees Todd come in
through the broken door, and decides that he has to warn
Jake. Todd yanks the plug on the stereo and yells “Garrett!”
Jake appears, with Didi. Rick says “I was surprised to see
the Jake smile on his face – and not a fake one, either.
Maybe it was because Didi was by his side, and that was all
he’d ever wanted or cared about…He was ready, even
happy to do this, if it put him a step closer to Didi.”
(pp.167-68)
This was Jake, reinvented
Jake is looking good, and he’s calm.
“Glad you could make it, baby. What’s up?” he says to
Todd.
“For a second there,” Rick says, “I toyed with the
possibility…that his sheer faith in who he had become
might do the job for him. This wasn’t the old Jacob
Garrett. This was Jake, reinvented.” (p.168)
The Jake Garrett they remember is a lot different
But Jake has seriously miscalculated. Todd has been to a
recruiting seminar at this old school – McKinley – and
learned the story of Jake’s past from the football players
there.
“Funny thing,” he says. “The Jake Garrett they remember is
a lot different from you. They told me about a nerdy little
shrimp with giant glasses on his snot nose and a protractor
sticking out of his butt.”
Todd says Jake was “stuffed into your locker by people who
were sick of hearing about your science fair projects and
math trophies.”
we’re too stupid to see
Finally, Todd asks: “How come a total loser at
McKinley is suddenly all that at Fitz?” Jake doesn’t
have a comeback.
“Because you’re a lying piece of crap!” Todd roared in
his face. “Something like this doesn’t happen by
accident! You think just because we aren’t math geeks
like you that we’re too stupid to see what you’ve done
to us?” (p. 169)
Korman (the author) describes Todd as prosecutor
revealing evidence, “asking the jury to throw the book
at this outlaw.”
a primordial shriek
As Todd is finishing up, in storms Nelson Jaworski,
screaming for Garrett. Melissa tries to stop him but that
just makes him madder. At the same time a bunch of
Broncos come out of the basement carrying a “huge Fourth
of July skyrocket” with Dipsy’s pants tied on the back.
Dipsy is chasing them. They are trying to find a lighter to
fire the thing off through the front door when Nelson lets
out “a primordial shriek” when he spots Jake in the crowd.
Rick tries to help Jake escape, but Todd punches him in the
jaw.
Nelson has Jake by the throat, as the other Bronco’s fire off
the rocket, but Dipsy makes a grab for his pants and that
turns the rocket’s aim into the room.
his face began to turn a sickly gray-blue
“Jake’s eyes bulged in horror as his face began to turn a
sickly gray-blue. Didi sprang over, and as she moved, she
raised the champagne bottle she’d been hugging all night.
Then, with a snap of her impossibly delicate wrist, hse
brought the bottle down on Nelson’s head. It shattered.
The big lineman dropped like a stone, releasing Jake, who
tumbled free.”
At that moment, the firework goes off and flies across the
room, scattering people and then goes straight up, slams
into the living room ceiling and falls apart on impact so
that burning cardboard and gunpowder are now falling on
the two wading pools that hold the beer.
unconscious on the floor
The gasoline from the Harley – which was on the
paper towels that Jennifer and Rick put in the tubs –
has floated to the surface and ignites. The flames burn
through the tubs and burning water sloshes out across
the living room floor. People freak out and start
running. Rick is on his way out when he sees Jake
stumbling around looking for Didi. Rick grabs him and
drags him out of the house. The cops arrive – Mrs.
Appleford had decided to bust the party before the fire
started – and rush in the house, now pouring out
smoke, to find Nelson unconscious on the floor.
I did it.
The cops get him out onto the lawn and radio for an
ambulance. Todd, with one arm around Didi and the other
around Jennifer, watches in silence. Jake and Rick stand
together watching. A cop yells at the crowd that this is a
felony and he wants to know who did it. Nobody says a
thing. Then, before Rick can stop him, Jake says “I did it.”
Rick says “To this day, I blame myself for not reacting
faster. But in a million years I didn’t think the confession
would hold up. It was such a transparent half-assed
attempt at chivalry. Surely someone would vouch for the
guy who was being choked half to death at the time!” (p.
180)
the look of zealous determination
Nobody stands up for Jake except Rick. He tells the cops
it’s not true.
“But the look of zealous determination on the face of Jake
Garrett was one that I recognized all too well. It was the
calculated driven fervor that had turned a lowly math tutor
into a football player, a fashion statement, a legendary
host, and a popularity machine – all to catch the eye of one
girl.” (p. 181)
So Jake says again, louder this time, “It was me,” and the
cops take him away in handcuffs.
Chapter 15
Jake would be off the hook
As the chapter opens, Rick still feels bad about not doing more
for Jake. He tells us that Mr. Garrett flies back to town about the
time Nelson Jaworski finally opens his eyes in the hospital, and
he couldn’t remember anything about getting hit. (p. 183)
Rick says that if Didi would come forward and tell the truth to
the cops, she’s be okay because she was saving Jake from an
attack, and Jake would be off the hook. Jake’s been kicked out of
school for attacking another student.
They meet and the first thing Jake asks about is Didi, (who has
not told the truth and never will).
“How’s she holding up under all of this?” Jake asks. (p. 185)
She did it!
Jake says he’s been calling her but he understands that
her parents won’t let her talk to him because suspicion
might fall on her. When Rick hears this, he loses it.
“Suspicion SHOULD fall on her! She did it! It’s
probably the only thing she did in her life that was for
somebody else, but she did it!...You’d better start
thinking about poor Jake! That girl’s going to let you
take the rap for this! Think about it – what kind of
person are you protecting? ” (p. 185)
She’s fine!...She’s with Todd!
Jake acts like he hasn’t heard and says he wishes there
was some way that he could know she was alright.
Rick explodes. “She’s fine!...She’s with Todd, and she’s
always going to be with Todd! And if she breaks up
with Todd, she’s going to find somebody exactly like
Todd and be with him! She may have a fling every now
and then, but the Didi’s of the world stay with their
own kind!” (p. 186)
Rick then says “I’d never seen him look so wounded.”
Mathlete of the Year
Jake’s lawyer calls and when he goes to the phone,
Rick stays in his room. In the closet he sees a big box
of science fair trophies, math ribbons, books about
chess and Dungeons & Dragons, and prizes from Quiz
Bowl and Odyssey of the Mind. And there was a
certificate signed by the mayor proclaiming Jacob
Garrett to be the “Mathlete of the Year.” Under all that
he finds mail-order catalogues from Abercrombie &
Fitch, Banana Republic, Nike, Ralph Lauren, and J.
Crew, a book called Understanding Football and a
county real estate map with the school districts
marked in red. (p. 187)
You planned this
Jake walks in the room and sees Rick and freezes. Rick
says he looks at him “as if for the first time.” And then
he says: “It was all for Didi, wasn’t it? From the very
beginning. You threw those parties just because you
knew that Didi would eventually show up at one of
them.” Then he also realizes that Jake turned himself
into a football player to get her, and moved to that
neighborhood for the same reason.
Rick says: “You planned this – starting the very day
she blew you off sophomore year.” (p. 187)
He didn’t deny it. His intensity was almost scary.
His intensity was almost scary
Jake asks: “Do you know how it feels when the girl you love
– who you know could love you – won’t even look at you
when she passes you in the hall because you’re not cool
enough? Because she doesn’t want to admit to her friends
that she even knows you?” (p. 188)
It occurred to me that he would never see the reality of
what was being done to him. Because then he would have
to admit to himself that he’d been nothing more than an
unimportant footnote in Didi’s book. And that would mean
accepting the fact that the last two years of his life had been
totally meaningless…How could you save a guy who
wouldn’t let himself be saved? (p. 188)
an iron will
Rick has nightmares that night, seeing Jake practicing
football snaps all summer – with “an iron will” since he
probably didn’t’ even like football, and putting the lock on
his door, and pouring over catalogues “piecing together a
look for the new Jake, formerly Jacob, that would catch her
eye and win her heart.” (pp. 188-89)
And, Rick says, “[H]e had pulled it off! What a rush these
weeks must have been for him – the house to himself, Didi
in his arms! That old Jacob Garrett, Mathlete of the Year,
must have seemed a million miles away…And then,
everything fell apart.” (p. 189)
it’s not Jake’s fault
Rick goes to see Jake’s lawyer, Mrs. Tidmarsh, and
tries to tell her it’s not Jake’s fault. She says that if he
wants to help Jake, he needs character witnesses – he
needs to get a bunch of his school friends to show up in
court and say what a good guy Jake is. So Rick tells
everyone at school, puts up posters about the trial
date, and gets the assistant principal to agree to write
early release passes for people to go.
Chapter 16
Those bastards!
As the chapter opens, Rick has stuffed himself into a suit and tie and is
waiting at the court house “ridiculously early” because he’s worried
some of Jake’s friends - character witnesses – may back down. The
trial is set for 9 a.m. By 8:30 no one has showed.
“I knew then. I should have known before. Nobody was coming to
stand behind Jake. Not one solitary soul… As the minutes ticked by,
my tenseness morphed into an incredulous sickening despair. (p. 195)
“How could they be so heartless? So rotten? Were they scared of what
Todd thought? It didn’t matter. For whatever reason, they weren’t
coming. Jake’s house hadn’t burned down last week. But everything he
had built – his image, his status, his popularity – had gone up in
smoke. He was unmade, not by fire, but by cold, smooth
indifference…Those bastards!” (p. 195)
They used to show up by the hundreds
At 10 to nine he goes up the courthouse steps alone.
Suddenly Dipsy runs up and says let’s get in there and
join the others. When Rick says there are no others,
Dipsy says “They used to show up by the hundreds.”
And Rick replies, bitterly, “Yeah, for free beer, free
pizza and free bedrooms. Not for Jake.” Dipsy starts
talking about sea life and Rick gets pissed off. Then
Dipsy explains that the remora is able to swim with the
sharks without getting eaten by them. It feeds off the
bits and pieces that the shark misses. (p. 197)
I used to get picked on
“And what was in it for Dipsy? He got to experience, albeit
on the fringes, a social life that would have been barred to
him as a pudgy, funny-looking junk-food addict who spoke
in aquatic riddles. He got the scraps that fell from the
careless jaws of the sharks.” (p. 198)
Rick asks him if it is worth it – just to go for the scraps.
Dispy says “I used to get picked on. Really picked on. Like
nobody is smiling when it’s happening…this is better.” And
then Dipsy says that he will quit being a remora when he
graduates. It’s not an identity – it’s a survival technique.
They had to listen to me
They go into the courtroom. Nick keeps bugging Jake’s
attorney about when he will get to stand up and say
something good about Jake’s character. But she tells him
they are already at the sentencing. He jumps up and yells
to the judge that Jake is innocent and that it was really Didi
Ray. But the judge has him thrown out of court. He tries to
get back in.
“They had to listen to me. Here, of all places, surely the
truth meant something.” (p. 202) But the bailiff threatens
to arrest him. So he is sitting on the steps, watching the
world carry on, while his friend’s life is falling to pieces
inside. He thinks about how Didi could have saved Jake
with “a few words out of her exquisitely formed mouth” but
she wasn’t interested enough to even show up.
What are…?
 What are the similarities between Dipsy and
Jake?
 What are the differences?
he had beaten them at their own game
“Out of all of them,” Nick says, “only Dipsy had cared
enough to show up – Dipsy, who they teased and
tormented. Maybe there was something about being picked
on that was character building, that made you a human
being.” (p. 202)
“The old Jacob Garrett, the nerd from McKinley, Didi’s
math tutor, had been no stranger to that kind of abuse. In
creating his new self and placing it at the center of their
world, he had beaten them at their own game. They were
never going to forgive him for that.” (p. 203)
I begged her to come. She wouldn’t
 While Rick is thinking all this stuff, Jake comes out of the
courthouse and thanks him for being there. Then he
immediately asks about Didi. So Rick tells him the truth:
“I begged her to come. She wouldn’t.” (p. 204) Jake tells
Rick that he got a suspended sentence, but under the
terms of the plea agreement, he would have to leave town
– and go live with his mom in Texas. Rick is pissed,
because he sees it as Todd Buckley winning again, but he
also thinks that “[m]aybe from a distance, he’d be able to
see that Didi wasn’t worth his mindless devotion.” Jake
pulls out a card with his mom’s number and address on it
and hands it to Rick. Rick thinks it’s meant for him – that
Jake wants to keep in touch with him – but then Jake
explains that it’s for Didi.
Jen the Merciless
When Jake hugs Rick goodbye, Rick says “it wasn’t an embrace
of friendship. It was more like the desperate grasp of a drowning
man.” (p. 204) Finally Rick says “They’re crappy people…
You’re worth more than the lot of them put together.” (pp. 205206) Then Rick sees Jennifer approaching. She had been in the
courtroom but he hadn’t seen her. He turned away from her and
she left without speaking.
“Still,” he said “I was glad she had come. Jen the Merciless had a
shred of conscience. Good for her.” (p. 206)
That night he sees his mom moving a For Sale sign out of the
garage. It’s for Jake’s old house.
Chapter 17
I always knew you were a hopeless romantic
“I didn’t mind because I didn’t care. I walked out of the
clubhouse as the only Bronco with a clear conscience.”
Then – Bam! Crab apple sizzles by his head.
“I always knew you were a hopeless romantic Ricky.
That’s why I never gave up on you.”
 DIDI KNEW HIM AS SOMEONE SHE COULD BE HERSELF
WITH – WITHOUT HAVING TO PLAY TO THE ROLE OF THE
POPULAR GIRL. AND WHEN HE BECAME COOL, SHE
COULD HAVE BOTH. BUT TODD WAS EVEN COOLER
BECAUSE HIS POSITION WAS MUCH MORE ESTABLISHED.
JAKE ACTUALLY BECAME SUPERFICIAL JUST TO GET HER –
THAT’S THE IRONY. SHE LOVED HIS SINCERITY AND THE
FREEDOM SHE HAD TO BE THAT WAY WITH HIM. BUT FOR
HIM TO HAVE HER, HE HAD TO BECOME “POPULAR.” AND
THAT MEANT GIVING UP WHO HE REALLY WAS IN ORDER
TO HAVE HER. HE WANTED HER AND WHAT SHE STOOD
FOR – SOCIAL SUCCESS – MORE THAN HE WANTED WHO
HE REALLY WAS. HE GAVE HIMSELF AWAY IN THE
PROCESS. AND DIDI LET HIM, BECAUSE SHE WAS NOT
ABLE TO SEE BEYOND HER OWN NEEDS. THAT’S WHAT
MAKES THIS A TRAGEDY.
DISPY AND JAKE BOTH KNEW WHAT IT WAS LIKE TO BE
PICKED ON. DIPSY FOUND A WAY TO ESCAPE IT BY
CHANGING HIS GAME TEMPORARILY, WHEREAS JAKE
CHANGED HIS WHOLE PERSONALITY.
DIPSY KNEW WHO HE WAS, WHILE JAKE HID FROM WHO
HE WAS, OR FROM WHO HE HAD BEEN. HE WAS SO AFRAID
OF THE NERD STATUS THAT WHEN HIS PAST WAS
DISCOVERED, HE COULDN’T EVEN DEFEND HIMSELF.