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David LevithanA modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more. For select classroom titles, we also provide Teaching Guides with discussion and quiz questions to prompt student engagement.
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A wakes up in Rhiannon’s body and can hardly believe it. At first, A thinks s/he’s dreaming, but A realizes soon that this is no dream. Every moment suddenly becomes precious. A worries, though, about Rhiannon’s privacy and wants to be extremely respectful of intruding on her life, taking more care than A has ever done for anyone else in the past. In trying to respect her privacy, A does not even take a shower, so A won’t have an unfair view of Rhiannon’s nakedness. Nonetheless, A can’t help but treasure every moment: “This is how it feels to raise her arm. This is how it feels to blink her eyes. This is how it feels to turn her head” (189).
At school, A is happy to meet Rhiannon’s other friends, but A is not so happy to see Justin. Justin, as usual, doesn’t give Rhiannon a chance to talk; he simply likes to hear himself speak. A struggles to stay in character and not use his/her power to have Rhiannon break up with him, as A knows this would end up dooming his/her relationship with Rhiannon. But when Justin calls Rhiannon “Silver,” A accesses a tender memory when Justin and Rhiannon were reading The Outsiders, and Justin was powerfully affected by it, especially by the line, “Nothing gold can stay” (194). Instead of “Gold,” he calls her Silver, implying that their relationship can last. Despite this, when Justin kisses Rhiannon, A is disgusted.
A makes up an excuse so s/he won’t have to spend the afternoon with Justin, instead going on a hike “to give Rhiannon the satisfaction of being fully alone” (197). A feels similar to the way s/he felt in Chapter 1, when they visited the ocean. S/he feels Rhiannon’s body “moving with purpose” (197), but A also is able to transcend the body, in order to “open ourselves to the quieter astonishments that enormity can offer” (198).
After dinner with Rhiannon’s parents, who are a tired mother and a preoccupied father, respectively, A does Rhiannon’s homework but doesn’t check email or read Rhiannon’s books, not even wanting accidentally to lose Rhiannon’s place. A doesn’t want Rhiannon to feel any negative feelings from this possession. However, A does leave Rhiannon a note, telling her the truth of what happened that day and asking her to remember what happened before reading A’s account of it.
Rhiannon emails A: “I think I remember everything…I want to talk” (201).
A is now tech-savvy Dylan Cooper, and arranges to meet her after school.
Rhiannon is not upset by the previous day; in fact, she feels more intimate with A, after. They feel like they understand each other better now. They’re eager to ask each other questions about the experience, A asks about what she remembers and Rhiannon asks A about what s/he remembers. Rhiannon also asks, “Are you really not a boy or a girl?” (205). A says s/he’s comfortable and uncomfortable as both genders. They also wonder about the future, with Rhiannon doubtful about how things can work out and A wanting her not to worry about the future and impossibilities. S/he wants to “stay on the nice note” (206).
A wakes up to Nathan’s constant emails asking for information about who A is. A finally writes back, assuring that Nathan will never be possessed again. A tells Nathan he must trust A. When Nathan keeps asking for more proof, A tells him what happened the night of the party. When Nathan asks why he was at the party, A responds, “You were there to talk to the girl. For just that one day, you wanted to talk to that girl” (209).
Today A is Vanessa Martinez, someone with a “poison personality” (211). A hears all the mean thoughts that normally would be running through her head, as Vanessa viciously judges everyone around her. A can’t change who Vanessa is tomorrow, but at least for the day, A can try to “halt her ire” (212).
It’s a surprising twist when A wakes up in Rhiannon’s body. In the previous chapters, A has felt distant from Rhiannon. But this chapter suddenly reverses that distance so that A is right there. This possession also has an effect on Rhiannon, who immediately wants to talk with A the next day, sharing what she has experienced. She tells A she feels closer to him/her, even though she admits confusion about her feelings for A, especially not knowing if A is a girl or a boy. A’s gender identity is fluid, while Rhiannon’s gendered experience of being a girl all her life has colored her perceptions in a way A can’t understand.
Also confused by A’s experience is Nathan, who must find answers to what happened to him. However, because A is so careful with his/her emails to him, Nathan gets frustrated by the minimal responses and threatens to seek answers elsewhere, such as through Reverend Poole.
Ironically, A is trying to provide empathetic answers in the body of a cold, cruel teenager, Vanessa Martinez. The distance between A and A’s host is sometimes so vast, and yet A can feel the hold that Vanessa has on A’s behavior. A resists, refusing to give in to Vanessa’s poison. Although A tries not to interfere in the lives of hosts, not even daring to move a bookmark in Rhiannon’s book, when dealing with someone A doesn’t like, like Vanessa, A doesn’t seem to have a problem with changing the limits of the person’s behavior, if only for the day.
By David Levithan