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Period: to
Length of Inner Struggle
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Nick First Notices Caitlin
While driving his sixteenth birthday present, and his best friend riding shotgun, Nick sees how Caitlin stands out from a big crowd of girls and automatically thinks of her as his "dream girl". (pgs. 11-12) -
Caitlin Accepts Invite To Their First Date
Nick asks Caitlin out to Zack Schaeffer's party, just after finally working up the nerve to actually say something to her. She says she'll go and smiles at him. He says in his head, "I want to put her smile in my pocket to look at over and over". (pgs. 27-28) -
Zack's Party
First, Nick has dinner at the Carters' house, and we are shown what kind of family his best friend Tom has. This is good to reference back to once we see Nick's life at home..
Then Nick & Caitlin and Tom & Liana go to the party. The house is huge, with an indoor pool. Nick works up the nerve to put his arm around Caitlin by getting her in the water. The night starts off well. (pgs. 37-40 and 45-52) -
Nick and Caitlin's First Kiss Together
Some juniors came to trash the house and crash the party. Caitlin tried to stand up to them, saying they "can't just trash someone's house". One of them came up to her and touched her waist, about to say something crude, but then Nick started beating him senseless. He knocked the guy unconcscious but Nick got glass shards all over himself. . Caitlin told him that no one had ever fought for her, he was her knight in shining armor. And he kissed her. (pgs. 52-55) -
Nick Tells Caitlin To Ditch Elsa
After having Caitlin's best friend Elsa eat lunch with her and Nick for about two weeks, Nick couldn't take it anymore. He was always being ridiculed by Elsa and he was beyond annoyed with it. He told Caitlin she could only choose one, him or her, and she chose him. He put white roses in Caitlin's locker the next day, which made her content being without Elsa. (pgs. 61-67) -
Nick's Father Finds Out
Nick had put beer on his maid's shopping list so that he could take some to Zack's party. His father saw the reciept and realized it was Nick's doing. He hit Nick a few times across the face, and the next morning his dad let him stay home and he told the school Nick had the flu. This is an important example of why Nick acts the way he does with Caitlin. (pgs. 74-75 and 77-80) -
Nick Opens Up To Caitlin
Caitlin stops by Nick's house the day after he's most recently been hit by his father. She demands to know what's wrong, finally she sees him and he tells her the truth. He's wary of doing this, but Caitlin just hugs him. Nick tells Caitlin he loves her for the first time, and she tells him she loves him too. (pgs. 84-86) -
Nick's First Struggle With Caitlin
Caitlin stayed late after choir with a boy, working on a song, and Nick got angry with her. He squeezed her arm red and told her he was leaving, calling her names and yelling at her. She stood there crying, Nick noticed her arm, and he brought her in his car and they both apologized to each other. http://www.recovery-man.com/abusive/abusive_signs.htm ...He was "the perfect boyfriend" for the month of october after that. (pgs. 122-126 and 133) -
Their Break-Up
Nick is furious with Caitlin for joining in on the school play after he told her not to. He's totally enraged and starts calling her names, and hitting her again and again. People start leaving the school and Tom finally knocks him out to stop him, and everyone rushes to help Caitlin. (pgs. 239-244) http://www.recovery-man.com/abusive/abusive.htm#If you are in -
Nick First Goes To Court
Caitlin tells the court the truth about everything she is asked. The truth, what happened between her and Nick being told like that, frustrates Nick. He goes to the stand and lies as his side of the story, hoping that he may have some chance of getting her back... The judge still rules in favor of a restraining order against him, six months of anger management classes and making him required to write a journal on his time with Caitlin from when he first saw her until that day. (pgs. 1-9) -
Nick's First Anger Management Class
Nick takes one step in the class and thinks automatically that "he doesn't belong there". He's told, along with seven other guys, that honesty, punctuality and non-violence are required in the class. Some people are already finding following those rules to be difficult. (pgs. 14-21) http://www.apa.org/topics/anger/control.aspx -
The Blackboard In English Class
Nick walks into English class and finds everyone staring at him, and then the blackboard. It has "GO NICK! BEAT YOUR GIRLFRIEND!" written on it. More than one person claims to have written it, and they each tell him to teach them a lesson. The teacher leaves it on the board because Nick says to leave it, and because she's in a wheelchair and can't reach. He later decides to get to school early to erase it. (pgs. 42-44) -
Nick Seeks Some Forgiveness
Nick finally got some vacation pictures developed and he brought them to school with him. He tried giving them to Tom, who he'd vacationed with, along with Caitlin and Saint O'Connor. Tom put them back on Nick's desk, saying he didn't want them. Nick tried talking to him, hoping they could still be friends, but it just wasn't going to happen in Tom's opinion. (pgs. 57-60) -
From The 7-Eleven
Nick calls Caitlin from a gas station, just to hear her voice, because it supposedly makes him feel better. If he called from a number she knew, she would know it was him and he'd be in violation of his restraining order. (pgs. 76-77) -
Unhappy Valentine's Day
It's "Family Day" at anger management class and Nick purposely makes the mistake of lying about his situation at home. Though he learns the truth about a guy named Leo's family- an abusive step-father and a twin brother who committed suicide because of him. (pgs. 85-97) -
Caitlin's Birthday
Nick gets into Caitlin's locker and puts a bouquet in there for her birthday present, without a card or anything to say it was him except for the type of flowers. (pg. 100) -
A Close Call
Caitlin and Elsa report to a policeman that Nick is following them. Nick just barely gets out of it with the help of Leo and his girlfriend Neysa. (pgs.119-122) -
Letting Go
Mario, the anger management class instructor, finds out that Leo has shot Neysa, and then shot himself in the head. He passes this news on to Nick, who had somewhat became friends with him... Nick realizes how much he's been like Leo and starts to come to terms with himself and what he has to do... The ring he got Caitlin for christmas, he throws onto train tracks, right in an upcoming train's path. (pgs. 236-239) -
Pulling Himself Together
"Nick, on his last day of anger management class, decides to retake it for another six months." He's figuring out where he went wrong. and now he really wants to learn more about how he can fix some of it. (pgs. 247-254) -
The Mountain Dew Incident
Aiming a kick at Nick's legs, which are on a coffee table, his father misses and sends a can of mountain dew raining on nearly everything in the room. His father tells him to "clean it up," and Nick flat out refuses. Nick's father raises his hand, but Nick grabs both of his arms and screams, "You are not going to hit me anymore!" over and over until he lets his arms go and his father walks away. He finally stood up to his abuser. (pgs. 255-257) -
Nick's Seventeenth Birthday
Nick has realized, through his anger management classes and his journal entries, what he's done wrong and why he did what he did and now knows no matter how hard he tries, he can't go back and fix everything. Tom does go up to him that day though, the first day of their junior year, and he says he heard from Caitlin that "Nick was getting better" and Tom decided to be friends with him again. (pgs. 258-263)
