A boy pulls a prank on an opposing team. That sort of thing happens all the time between competing teams, right? No one is hurt; no one is intended to be hurt. But the incident has disturbing overtones. Not to spoil but it’s reminiscent of a scene from “The Godfather”.
The plot initially downplays the act. Some people think it's simply dumb. Yet you know matters are going to go sideways when the prank gets a more serious reaction than the perpetrator intended.
Still, these early chapters dwell mainly on the camaraderie among adolescent boys as they discuss soccer, girlfriends, college, internships and other matters. Zach, the boy who’s pretending to be the perpetrator of the prank, is slightly concerned about the aftermath but he’s focusing on other matters—like his community service at a local library.
Zach is gay but he doesn’t seem to think about it much. We don’t know if he’s out to his teammates and they’re completely blasé about it or if he’s hiding it; the text touches on it only glancingly. So, whatever his concerns, his sexuality isn’t upmost in his mind. It’s rather refreshing to have a YA novel that doesn’t focus on this as the end-all and be-all of a protagonist’s mind. It’s both a sign of how drastically social matters have changed for the better and a reminder that adolescents don’t necessarily have sex on their minds constantly.
The plot initially downplays the act. Some people think it's simply dumb. Yet you know matters are going to go sideways when the prank gets a more serious reaction than the perpetrator intended.
Still, these early chapters dwell mainly on the camaraderie among adolescent boys as they discuss soccer, girlfriends, college, internships and other matters. Zach, the boy who’s pretending to be the perpetrator of the prank, is slightly concerned about the aftermath but he’s focusing on other matters—like his community service at a local library.
Zach is gay but he doesn’t seem to think about it much. We don’t know if he’s out to his teammates and they’re completely blasé about it or if he’s hiding it; the text touches on it only glancingly. So, whatever his concerns, his sexuality isn’t upmost in his mind. It’s rather refreshing to have a YA novel that doesn’t focus on this as the end-all and be-all of a protagonist’s mind. It’s both a sign of how drastically social matters have changed for the better and a reminder that adolescents don’t necessarily have sex on their minds constantly.