Trish is a high school student. She is very smart and takes all honors classes, and she is also very involved in activites like school plays and Yearbook, and she is on the tennis team. Colin, on the other hand, is perceived as a trouble maker. He is in remedial classes, he gets into fights with other students and teachers, and the whole school knows about his scandalous past--he got a girl named Diane pregnant. For some reason that none of Trish's friends can understand, Trish is attracted to Colin.
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Trish and Colin meet by chance one day at the library, and as they begin dating Trish learns that Colin is not what he appears to be on the surface. Everyone thinks that he is stupid and can't read, but it turns out that he is incredibly smart and well-read. He is in remedial classes because he was hit by a car when he was small and missed almost an entire year of school. When he returned to school, he believed that everyone was expecting him to fail and developed an extreme case of test anxiety. He wants to be an actor, and he uses his acting skills to trick everyone into believing in his "bad boy" identity.
Trish is involved in the school play--the musical the Music Man--and when she finds out that Colin wants to be an actor, she encourages him to try out. He initially resists because he is afraid and convinced that he will not be accepted. She also encourages him to tell his teachers the truth, that he can read and that he needs to be taken out of remedial classes.
Finally Colin agrees to tell his teachers and try out for the play. He is moved into all of Trish's honors classes and gets the lead in the play. Problems develop because Mike, another student who has a crush on Trish, gets jealous of her relationship with Colin. He assumes that, because of Colin's well-known sexual history--Trish must be very promiscuous.
He begins harrassing her, saying suggestive things to her in the hall and following her around, asking if she will sleep with him. Things come to a head in several ways one night when Colin and Trish attend a party. Mike, who is very drunk, corners Trish in a room and she is afraid that he is going to attack her, but she manages to get away from him. When Colin finds out, he gets into a fight with Mike and several of Mike's friends. Colin is surprised when several other students take his side against Mike--thus solving both Trish's problems with Mike harassing her, and Colin's belief that no one likes him.
The review of this Book prepared by Heather B.
