

Prolific fantasy author Abbott has created a realistic wallflower struggling to bloom. His short friendship with Jessica has gotten him noticed by Courtney and has started to draw him out of his shell. A little scared at first, Tom slowly gets to know Jessica and misses her when she leaves abruptly. Jeff finds her abhorrent Courtney feels sorry for her. The students don’t know how to act around her. She’s a burn survivor who’s in town for treatment.


Not long after the start of the school year, Jessica Feeney joins their class. Tom’s only friend Jeff is struggling to deal with his parents’ divorce as well as his father’s indifference, and Jeff does so by acting out and lying. He does, nonetheless, have a crush on popular Courtney, and he fantasizes about saving her from wild disasters. Seventh-grader Tom Bender is nowhere near the in-crowd at St.
