Opening
Two voices tell the same story from opposite shores: Bryce Loski wants nothing more than escape, while Julianna "Juli" Baker believes she’s found first love. The novel’s split narration instantly spotlights Perception vs. Reality, turning a neighborhood meet-cute into a comic, painful study of misunderstanding.
What Happens
Chapter 1: Diving Under
From Bryce’s point of view, the nightmare begins the day his family moves across from the Bakers. Juli vaults into the moving van to “help,” smearing mud and ignoring hints. Bryce’s dad, Rick Loski, coaches a quick “ditch play,” and Bryce bolts for safety—only for Juli to grab his arm. They end up hand-in-hand as his mother steps outside cooing; mortified, Bryce yanks free and hides in the bathroom until the danger passes.
The years that follow become “strategic avoidance.” At school, Juli sprints toward him with “welcome hugs” and starts a “K-I-S-S-I-N-G” chant, while Bryce studies evasion. His sister Lynetta heckles him, and his dad keeps running interference. In fifth grade, Bryce hatches a cowardly plan: ask out Shelly Stalls, whom Juli despises, to drive Juli away. It backfires spectacularly when Juli fights Shelly and Bryce’s friend Garrett Anderson exposes the ruse, leaving Bryce ashamed.
Sixth grade brings new misery. Seated beside Juli, Bryce quietly copies her flawless work until the teacher rearranges the room and places Juli behind him. Juli starts sniffing his hair; during tests, she whispers spelling answers. Bryce accepts the help, his grades rise, and with them his guilt and dependence. He pins his hopes on junior high, imagining a bigger school where he can finally disappear.
Chapter 2: Flipped
The story flips to Juli, who remembers the same day as fate. After her mom makes her wait an hour, she tears across the street, sees Bryce hanging back, and assumes he needs rescuing from hard labor. She leaps into the van to help. When Bryce sprints away, she catches his arm; their hands lock, time stops, and she’s sure her first kiss is seconds away. Bryce’s flushed face and bathroom retreat read, to her, as intense shyness. When Lynetta teases him through the door, Juli retreats to spare him further embarrassment—and falls headlong into a yearslong crush.
Juli reframes her pursuit as loyalty and care. Her second-grade “tackle” is a hug; her omnipresence is devotion. In fifth grade, she sees Bryce with Shelly and feels duty, not jealousy: Shelly is a “whiny, gossipy, backstabbing ninny,” and Juli “saves” Bryce by restraining Shelly until a teacher arrives. Sixth grade is bliss when she’s seated beside him, then oddly mesmerizing when she’s moved behind—she notices his hair smells like watermelon and the “soft, blond fuzz” on his earlobes.
She whispers answers not to trap him but to help, hoping he’ll sit with her at lunch. Even as Bryce stays distant, Juli clings to the moment of hand-holding and keeps dreaming of a first kiss.
Character Development
Both narrators begin with narrow, self-protective worldviews. Bryce perfects avoidance and rationalizes petty schemes; Juli romanticizes everything Bryce does, misreading embarrassment as affection. Together, they reveal how easy it is to narrate yourself as the hero and the other person as a problem—or a destiny.
- Bryce
- Masters “diving under” to avoid conflict rather than confronting people
- Lets his father’s disdain color his judgment of Juli
- Uses Shelly to manipulate a situation, then feels the sting of cowardice when exposed
- Cheats off Juli and becomes dependent on her whispered answers
- Juli
- Interprets Bryce’s signals through a fantasy of mutual attraction
- Recasts her pursuit as rescue, positioning herself as Bryce’s protector
- Shows generosity and initiative but ignores boundaries
- Equates surface detail (his eyes, hair) with essential truth about his character
Themes & Symbols
The dual narration embodies Perception vs. Reality. The same events—the moving-day hand-hold, the bathroom retreat, the fifth-grade “rescue”—fracture into two incompatible truths. Readers hold both versions at once, gaining the fuller picture neither narrator sees.
The opening also seeds Coming of Age and Personal Growth and Family Influence and Dynamics. Bryce’s fear and judgment borrow directly from his father’s cues, stunting his empathy. Juli’s idealism, nurtured by an encouraging home, fuels action without insight. Growing up will mean interrogating those inherited lenses, setting boundaries, and risking honest communication.
Symbols
- Bryce’s Eyes: Juli’s fixation on his “dazzling” blue eyes becomes a symbol of her idealization—proof of how a single striking detail can eclipse messy reality.
Key Quotes
“All I’ve ever wanted is for Juli Baker to leave me alone.”
Bryce opens with a defensive thesis that frames Juli as a problem to be solved, not a person to be understood. The line primes readers to distrust his empathy and to expect evasive tactics.
“The first day I met Bryce Loski, I flipped.”
Juli’s mirror-opening is pure romance. Her certainty contrasts sharply with Bryce’s dread, setting up the book’s dramatic irony and the emotional stakes of misunderstanding.
He develops a philosophy of “diving under.”
This phrase crystallizes Bryce’s conflict-avoidant identity. It justifies cheating, scheming with Shelly, and letting others carry moral weight—habits he must outgrow to mature.
Why This Matters and Section Significance
These chapters establish the novel’s engine: two honest but incomplete narrators whose mismatched readings of the same moments generate comedy, tension, and heartbreak. By putting readers between versions, the book trains us to question single-perspective truth.
Structurally, this is the baseline both characters must outgrow. Bryce starts as a self-protective avoider; Juli starts as a romantic who confuses intensity with understanding. The rest of the story tests those identities, forcing each to see the other—and themselves—more clearly.