Blarg

Plot[edit source | editbeta]
Julianna "Juli" Baker meets Bryce Loski two days before the beginning of second grade; it's something about those blue eyes that attract her. Juli knows it's love, while Bryce, like any seven-year-old boy, doesn't. Juli stalks Bryce all through his childhood; staring at his house, asking him to play, following him at school, etc. Every day, Bryce watches Juli climb the sycamore tree at the bus stop, which Juli is very attached to. Ever since Juli retrieved a kite at the uppermost branches, she has loved the view. She constantly asks Bryce to come join her in the tree, as well as yelling out how many blocks away the bus is. Bryce, being unbelievably shy and annoyed by all the attention, asks out Juli's nemesis, Shelly Stalls, to get rid of his admirer. Bryce looks over his shoulder for Juli every time he's with Shelly, which of course causes Juli to think he's being forced to date her. This provokes a catfight between Juli and Shelly over Bryce. The two break up, and Bryce is back to square one. There comes an incident in sixth grade when, much to Bryce's chagrin and irritation, Juli constantly sniffs Bryce's hair in spelling from her assigned position behind him. According to Juli, his hair smells like watermelon and he has blond earlobe fuzz, even though he has really dark hair. Bryce is disgruntled from this seat change, because Juli had initially sat next to him where she whispered him answers. Now that she's behind him, he's lost that advantage, and his grades slip, especially in spelling. This halts, however, when as Juli sniffs him, she begins to whisper answers in his ear. Bryce, torn between feeling grateful and awkwardly guilty for hating her so much when she's helping him, follows the answers anyway until the end of the year.
Juli, on the other hand, can't stop thinking about Bryce in the many years she's known him. Obliviously missing his discomfort being around her, she continues to try to get him to like her. However,