by Anne Parker

Created on: July 21, 2009   Last Updated: July 24, 2009

My sister, Debbie, went out with this guy the previous Christmas, Birkett. The relationship was doomed. When she broke up with him in a note, he showed up in our front lawn, rushing with emotions and would still be there if it wasn't for the snake coiling around his neck that made his voice come out in a wheeze. Today, in my family, when anyone in the family has a rush of emotions, or is an emotional disaster, we say they're chucking a Birkett. The actual quality of the emotion is not so important, but it does have the power to make you lose all your common sense. When you're in the middle of a big Birkett, the emotion becomes larger than you are, and you're in trouble.

Gemma Stone, a sweet innocent, very shy high schooler, is about to undergo a huge change. Her sister, Debbie, is getting married to a guy that she's been going out for a month. To make matters worse, his family is all about war. It's been in their blood for generations, and all they can talk about is war. Debbie's wedding brings a horrible tension in the family. The wedding theme is hard to go with, and Gemma finds it hard for her to deal with Debbie and her three friends' absurd snobbiness.

More complications come into her life. One day, her crush, Nick tells her that she would be good in drama club, so she joins to get closer to him. Instead, she gets stuck with Raven De Head, one of the De Head family's troublemakers. For the sake of the play, she is forced to practice with him every day after school. Then why is it when Nick makes a move, she pushes him away? Why is it that something about Raven attracts her to him? When she was at Raven's, she had no idea what she was feeling when she watched his family get into a violent fight; she knows she felt something different.

Then, when Raven declares that he loves her-she makes the biggest mistake of all-walking away from that. Gemma realizes that she does have feelings for him, but when Magpie, Raven's brother dies because of a stupid joke they tried to play, it tears them apart. Anything that reminds the De Head family of Magpie, they try to stay away from. Gemma does realize that it is her fault, in a way. Because when Raven needed her the most, she was too afraid to step forward and help. This leads her realize that sometimes in life, chucking a Birkett may feel like the best thing ever.

Learn more about this author, Anne Parker.
Click here to send this author comments or questions.