Nan wants Seemy to be her BFF, but Seemy has plentiful of issues including her need to stay turned-up. Nan has issues with drinking her denial is causing her to spiral downward. She doesn't even like drinking per se. She does it to get closer to her friend Seemy which is short for Samantha. Nan doesn't make friends easily and Seemy only likes to have fun. Hanging with Seemy causing a major riff between Nan and her mom. Her mother can't trust her and really doesn't understand Nan's new style of dress (Goth), the multiple piercings that include her nose and lip, or the wild hair style with eight colors.
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Nan ends up with alcohol poisoning and her mom has enough and sends her to rehab. Seemy finds it hilarious because she drinks way more than Nan. When she is released from rehab she knows she needs to keep her act together. She starts attending therapy which seems to be helping.
Nan has promised her mom that she would stay sober since drinking hasn't helped out at all. She also wants to be a good example for little brother Tick who adores her. When Nan's mom goes out of town for work, Nan tells her mother she can handle being alone and refuses to go and stay with Tick and their dad.
It's Halloween and even though she isn't supposed to have contact with Seemy, they hang out with two older guys. Nan turns down the offer of alcohol but accepts sips of something from Seemy's soda bottle. Seemy offers her when she notices that her friend is high off of something bad. Seemy tells her that the guys won't let her go. They are much older than the girls and menacing. They've given her something they refer to as Liquid Gold which causes blackouts and too much of it can kill you.
Nan blacks-out and wakes up alone on the subway train. She is wearing a dress that is sizes too small, no shoes, and her hair has been chopped off. The Halloween make-up is smeared and ghoulish appearing. “Help Me” is written on her chest and she can't remember how or why she got there.
As she tries to remember what happened the night before she keeps blacking out. Bits and pieces of the previous evening come back and after many hours she is able to trace her steps. She realizes she has to save Seemy that she too, was probably blacked-out if she was still alive. Not knowing if the two men had raped or killed Seemy, Nan uses the steps she learned in therapy to make her way back to where Seemy may be.
Nan finds Seemy at one of their old hang out spots, out cold. The bad guys have followed Nan and are threatening to do both she and Seemy further harm. Nan fights for her life, thankful that only one has come inside. She matches him in strength (shes a big girl). Thankfully, Seemy's ex boyfriend who Seemy is no longer able to hang out with shows up at the same time as the police.
The bad guys get locked up and so does Seemy. Her affluent parents put her in a rehab facility for people with money.
Nan and Seemy's ex-boyfriend Toad, become friends. He isn't a total loser, in fact he cleans up his act and starts college. Nan returns to school and while everyone knows her now (due to the media) and what happened to her and Seemy she's adjusting with therapy.
Best part of story, including ending:
I like that Nan was able to see that unless she stayed sober she was going to die.
Best scene in story:
My favorite scene was when Nan was fighting Turner for her life.
Opinion about the main character:
I disliked that Nan couldn't see how special she was without Seemy.
