Introverted, socially awkward Jay Kirkman, known to his Grams as “Jay Bird,” is riding the ups-and-downs of youth while living with overbearing parents and dealing with the pressures of being a senior in high school. A month away from graduation, Jay hopes to flee the small upstate New York town of Milton for a life anywhere but in his dead-end hometown. He wishes for more than he has now: scholarly, eccentric parents, and watching Grams, the closest person to him, slowly dying before his eyes. His equally withdrawn but edgier best friend Rocco has a hearty appetite for drugs, alcohol, and promiscuous sex. When the law comes knocking, asking questions about a crime Rocco may or may not have committed, he finds himself in big trouble and turns to Jay for help. Is Jay and Rocco’s friendship strong enough to sustain life’s tough obstacles as they navigate the highs and lows of growing up together?

Jay Bird

Curling the edges of the paper open, I started reading Anna’s love poem to James, or Jimmy, or Jim:


Amateurish, I thought, but I didn’t tell Anna, who was nodding and looking for a reaction, like an eager child discovering new things.


I creased the paper and handed it back to her.


“Well? What do you think?” she whispered. “Do you think James will like it?”


Like it? He’ll strangle you if you show this to him, I thought. “I like the sunset part,” I told her.


She air-clapped twice, beaming, as if I had told her something good was going to happen to her soon.


Then I drowned out Anna and Mr. Anderson and a girl eagerly beckoning the teacher to answer her two-partquestion about global warming and melting glaciers.


I turned to the blanket of clouds covering the sky and thought about Rocco.


Chapter 16