After his girlfriend breaks up with him, Nick finds out she is pregnant and he must deal with the confusing turmoil of emotions that result as he still has feelings for her and he hopes that they can share a future together. Nick is a typical teenage boy who is just looking for a good time this summer. He was dating his current unofficial girlfriend, Dani, when he met Sasha. Nick never really took Dani seriously – he never wanted to introduce her to his family because he was basically only dating her to get in her pants. Sasha is the complete opposite of Dani. Dani is what Nick's labeled as “easy” whereas Sasha requires real commitment.
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Sasha invites Nick to visit her at the beach where she works. At the beach, Sasha and Nick kiss. After that incident, Nick feels guilty when he's with Dani so he breaks up with her. Sasha and Nick become official boyfriend and girlfriend. Nick spends much of his time thinking about sleeping with Sasha, but that is still off-limits in Sasha's rule book. Her parents are also very strict so Nick and Sasha have to sneak out to see each other most of the time. Eventually, Nick starts putting pressure on Sasha to sleep with him, but Sasha is firm. Nick tries to understand but most of the time he's a typical horny teenage boy.
When Fall comes around, Nick and Sasha hardly have time to meet with each other due to school and extracurricular activities. Nick eventually introduces Sasha to his own family and Nick's dad embarrasses him by trying to have a conversation with him about safe sex. One day, Nick finally has sex with Sasha but it isn't very pleasant since it is both Nick and Sasha's first time. Things become a bit awkward for Sasha and Nick after that experience since Nick blurted out how Sasha was the one who ruined it with her pained expression when they did it. After Nick apologizes to Sasha, they try again and it is much more pleasant, though still awkward. Nick and Sasha have sex more often, and most of the time it's fine but there was an “accident” when Nick's condom broke. After the accident, Sasha and Nick agree it might be safer to not only get condoms but birth-control pills, too, and they plan on visiting a nearby health clinic to pick them up. But, after the accident, Sasha tells Nick that she thinks their relationship is moving too fast for her. Nick feels like she's trying to break up with him. Sasha never ends up getting the birth-control pills because she felt reasonably sure that Nick didn't “finish” inside of her. As the weeks pass, Nick finds it hard to get over Sasha. He starts doing poorly in school and feeling unmotivated in life.
A few months later on Christmas Eve, Nick finds out that Sasha is pregnant. Nick convinces Sasha not to tell her parents until they are absolutely sure and have had time to talk properly and make a plan as to what to do. But, Sasha ends up telling her mom and deciding that she wants to get the baby aborted. Nick and Sasha have an argument, since Nick feels like Sasha doesn't want him in her life anymore. They somewhat make up after the argument but Nick still feels confused about where he stands in their relationship.
At a party, Nick gets drunk and high to try to get over how miserable he feels. He meets another girl, named Jillian, and they end up talking about their respective problems and falling asleep together on the bed. He likes Jillian, though his life is too complicated right now to get in a relationship with anyone. Later that week, Nick tries to call Sasha to find out how her abortive surgery went. Sasha's mom picks up and he learns that Sasha's fine. Sasha's mom doesn't want Nick in her daughter's life anymore. Nick still insists on visiting Sasha as she's recuperating. They have a good talk but Nick still can't get over his hurt and confusion over Sasha.
A few days later, Nick meets Jillian again at work and they exchange contact information. Nick thinks that Jillian is just a friend but it could become something more in the future, once he gets over Sasha. The story ends with Nick coming to an understanding that what he and Sasha went through was too traumatic for them to ever have a normal, happy relationship together.
Best part of story, including ending:
For a book about unplanned teen pregnancy, I thought the author was very sympathetic in describing a situation where both teens were trying to be careful but the accidental pregnancy still happened. I specifically thought it was interesting that the story is told from the point of view of Nick, a teenage boy, and shows how conflicted he is about the whole situation and his role in it. Normally books about unplanned pregnancy focus on the girl's point of view and portray the teenage boy as cold, uncaring or irresponsible but Nick is far from that.
Best scene in story:
My favorite scene was when Nick falls asleep with Jillian and then later on realizes that he can have a relationship with a girl without moving too fast and pressuring the girl to have sex. There are other ways to grow a stronger bond with someone other than physically.
Opinion about the main character:
I like that Nick keeps making mistakes but he also keeps trying harder to make things right. I like that he strives to be responsible and tries to understand the full repercussions of what he and Sasha did, even though the whole situation is confusing and even devastating.
