The Part of the Book Where Nicholas Turns Into DAN BROWN

I always had a little inkling that Nicholas and Birdie would do something like this. She had a little innocent crush on him, and she was entertaining to him. When Nicholas offered Birdie the weed I wasn't really concerned. Her mom and dad's friends were pretty open with their drug use so she was familiar with drugs. Then after they were high, Nicholas started kissing Birdie. A little alarm went off in my head and I was alarmed for Birdie. She was 12 and was making out with a 15 year old!! I thought that Nicholas was gross and was using Birdie. He knew that she would go along with it. The pivotal moment was when Birdie didn't want to perform oral sex on Nicholas. On page 203 she says "But touching him felt too real, proof that the game had gone too far. It wasn't Birdie, but Jesse, who lay beneath him..." This is important because Birdie realizes that she is morphing into a new person--this Jesse person, yet she knows that it is not her. Birdie decides right then to stick with Birdie and to not fully transform. She decides to not be like her mother who allowed herself to become someone else entirely and lost herself in the process. Birdie realized that this was a 'game' and that the prize was big. She can't yet see the finish line, but she knows that Papa and Cole will be waiting for her. I was very proud of Birdie when she refused Nicholas. She stayed true to herself and risked losing her only friend in NH. If Birdie keeps up this behavior, she will make it through this ordeal just fine...
xoxo
Charlotte