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Miles Halter is leaving his home in Florida to attend a boarding school in Alabama called "Culver Creek". His parents throw him a going away party because of this, which only a few attend. Miles explains to his parents why he wants to go away, which is to seek a great perhaps.
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Miles arrives at the boarding school. He meets his new roomate, Chip Martin, who wishes to be addressed as "The Colonel". In return, the Colonel calls Miles "Pudge". The Colonel introduces Pudge to his friend Alaska and buy cigarettes off of her. He then shows Pudge the lake and leaves him to be by himself. Later Alaska joins him and mysteriously explains the idea of the labyrinth.
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Pudge is awoken in the middle of the night by two unknown guys. They duct tape him and bring him to the lake, where they push him in. The two figures leave Pudge to get his drowning self out of the lake alone, which he manages to do. Once he unduct-tapes himself, he goes to Alaska to tell her what happened, but she doesn't seem to care. Pudge then reutrns to his dorm where he informs the Colonel of the night's event. The Colonel rages, and the two deal with the problem in the morning.
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In the morning, the Colonel and Pudge work to figure out who the culprits were, already knowing one to be Kevin Richman. It also happens to be the first day of school, so they attend classes and Pudge lets the Colonel know if any of the other offenders are present. At school, Pudge is introduced to another of the Colonel's friend, Takumi.
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The Colonel has a date with his girlfriend Sara, but doesn't know how to iron his shirt. Sara arrives at his dorm room and freaks out at him for not being dressed up enough. Pudge learns the couple fights a lot. He also learns that his abusers were Weekday Warriors, and were bullying him because he's friends with the Colonel and they think he ratted out previously expelled Paul and Marya.
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Pudge gets kicked out of religion class, along with Alaska because she stood up for him. They spend the afternoon looking for four-leaf clovers. Once class is over, Takumi and the Colonel join them so they head over to the smoking hole. Alaska says a key line: "Y'all smoke to enjoy it, I smoke to die."
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Pudge and the Colonel go to the first basketball game of the season. Once there, Kevin apologizes for the prank against Pudge and asks for a truce. Pudge and the Colonel decline. They get kicked out for being rowdy.
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Alaska invites Pudge to a math study group at McDonalds. There he has first encounters with a Romanian girl named Lara, who sits on his lap.
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Alaska and Pudge are hanging out in the TV lounge when Alaska explains why her name is what it is. She got to choose her own name at the age of seven because her parents couldn't decide on a name themselves.
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The group of friends (Pudge, the Colonel, Alaska, and Takumi) go down to the lake for a smoke. A few moments later, The Eagle catches them and tells them to be in jury the next day,
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The group of friends attend jury. The Colonel and Takumi show up late but not unprepared. They had a plan to lie to lessen their penalty, and it worked perfectly.
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Alaska tells Pudge that Lara is going to be his new girlfriend. She plans a triple and a half date with her and her boyfriend (Jake), the Colonel and Sara, Pudge and Lara, and Takumi all alone.
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It's date night and the triple and a half choose to go to the basketball game. Once again, the Colonel gets kicked out. As Takumi and Pudge follow him, Pudge gets hit in the head by a ball. He brushes it off as no big deal. but when Lara comes to comfort him he pukes all over her. Pudge goes to the hospital and is diagnosed with a concussion. Later, the Colonel goes back to his dorm and tells Pudge that Sara and him broke up.
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Pudge is on the road to recovery from his concussion and the Colonel is on the road of recovery from his break-up. Pudge notices Alaska seems sad so he asks why, but Alaska isn't in the mood to answer.
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The Colonel is feeling better about his break-up. For religion class, him and Pudge are assigned the semester's final paper. They are to write about what the most important question human beings must answer while tying it back to the three main religions. Alaska was absent in class, and the two realize after it was because her room was flooded by the Weekday Warriors.
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Takumi tells Pudge that Alaska was the one who ratted out Marya and Paul. She believed she had no choice because she got caught after sneaking to Jake's with alcohol. Takumi warns him that the Colonel cannot know.
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Pudge wakes up to Alaska playing video games in his dorm early in the morning. He confronts her about her ratting the couple out. She explains herself and promises not to do it again. Alaska convinces Pudge to stay at Culver Creek for thanksgiving, one of the reasons being they have a prank to plan.
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Everyone is gone for Thanksgiving, except Pudge and Alaska. She shows him where she hides her booze, and they drink some and lie down. She explains what the labyrinth is.
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Pudge woke up to Alaska eagerness towards planning a prank. They spend the day searching through the Weekday Warriors' rooms, searching for what their prize possesions are. They do this so they can get them back where it hurts. They finish off the day going to the smoke hole.
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Pudge and Alaska go porn hunting and discuss how stupid it is.
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The Colonel goes back to Culver Creek to invite Pudge and Alaska to dinner at his trailer. Pudge meets the Colonel's mom for the first time and realizes how poor they are.
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Pudge, the Colonel, and Alaska enjoyed their turkey dinner at the Colonel's trailer. It was the best Thanksgiving they had ever had. Later, they went back to Culver Creek.
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Alaska goes out with the Colonel and Pudge on the last day of Thanksgiving break to stock up on cigarettes and booze. Alaska finally tells the Colonel she was the one who ratted out Paul and Marya.
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Everyone went home for Christmas break. Pudge caught up with his parents and studied most of his time.
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Christmas break ended and everyone is back. The group of friends meet up and discuss the prank. Pudge is excluded from the planning.
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As much as Pudge wanted to know, the Colonel wouldn't tell him what the prank was going to be. He only knew it was going to be called "Barn Night". So instead of wasting his time begging, he worked on his schoolwork.
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It's prank day and the group of friends head to a barn just off of campus. Pudge and Takumi pull the pre-prank (meant to distract The Eagle); they lit firecrackers outside his house. Lara pulled a mini prank; she put blue dye in the Weekday Warrior's hair gel. Finally, Alaska and the Colonel pulled the master prank; they lowered the Weekday Warriors' grades and sent them to their families. The pranks were successful as they never got caught.
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The friends spend the rest of the weekend hiding out in the barn. They spend the day drinking and having fun. Alaska suggested they play best and worst day. She reveals her worst day as her mother's death, blaming it on herself. Afterwards, Pudge and Lara start making out and share a sleeping bag that night. Pudge asks her to be his girlfriend.
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The group of friends pack up and go back to Culver Creek.
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Lara and Pudge spend the day together as a couple, and jump right into oral sex. Later, Pudge leaves her to hang out with the Colonel and Alaska. They go to Alaska's room to celebrate their pranking success by drinking. They decide to play turth or dare. Pudge was dared to make out with Alaska, so he did. The cheaters fell asleep after this, concluding the session with Alaska saying "To be continued?". Later Alaska leaves in a terrible panic. The boys help her drive away.
