Opening
The Basket Boy auction turns school into a marketplace, but the real bargaining happens inside the hearts of two eighth graders. Through back-to-back perspectives, a botched kiss, a broken friendship, and a planted tree flip the story’s power dynamic and reveal what empathy looks like in action.
What Happens
Chapter 13: Flipped (Bryce's Perspective)
Bryce Loski can’t stand Julianna "Juli" Baker’s sudden politeness. He prefers the chaos of her old crush to this cool, unreadable version of her. When he’s picked as a “Basket Boy,” he dreads being auctioned off like meat while his mom gushes about him fetching top dollar. His friend Garrett Anderson reports that the two most popular girls—Shelly Stalls and Miranda Humes—plan a bidding war. To avoid “Jumbo Jenny” Atkinson winning him, Bryce starts flattering Shelly and Miranda. The strategy works—and makes him feel like a “skunk.”
Auction day, Bryce suffers in a tie and watches the event with growing dread. Then Jon Trulock steps up. No one bids. The silence is brutal—until Juli calmly offers ten dollars, then stages a light bidding war with a friend before winning Jon’s basket for eighteen. Bryce reels. Has she moved on? His own bidding starts, Shelly and Miranda jack up the price, Jenny Atkinson lobs a shocking 122.50.
Lunch is a nightmare of shallow chatter about tanning plans. Bryce keeps staring at Juli laughing with Jon, seeing her as more beautiful—and more unreachable—than ever. Hearing Chet Duncan in his head—“do the right thing”—he snaps at the girls, which explodes into a food fight. He bolts to Juli, grabs her hands, and blurts, Do you like Jon? She says no. Flooded with relief, he leans in to kiss her. Juli pulls away, the room goes silent, and Bryce is marched back to his table. Later, Garrett mocks him for choosing Juli over popularity; Bryce shoves him and walks away for good. On the way home, he finally admits it: he’s flipped for Juli. He confesses everything to Chet, who tells him, “She’s the same as she’s always been; you’re the one who’s changed.” Bryce ends the day miserable but determined to prove it.
Chapter 14: The Basket Boys (Juli's Perspective)
Juli tells her friend Darla she has “lost her taste” for Bryce. When the class votes for Basket Boys, she pointedly doesn’t choose him, picking five genuinely kind boys instead—Jon Trulock among them. Learning Bryce made the list anyway, she feels a sting of possessiveness, especially after hearing Shelly plans to bid. In her yard, the grass she planted with Chet finally sprouts—tiny green shoots of resolve. She decides to avoid Bryce entirely.
The morning of the auction, a neighbor pays Juli eighteen dollars for eggs—exactly the kind of cash that could undo her resolve. Shelly corners her about bidding, but Juli stands firm. At the event, Bryce looks good in a tie, and that makes things harder. Then Jon’s basket draws zero bids. Juli refuses to let him be humiliated; she starts the bidding and, with Darla faking interest to nudge the price, wins at eighteen dollars—spending the very money that tempted her and freeing herself from bidding on Bryce. When Shelly and Miranda win Bryce, Juli feels relief; it proves what game they’re really playing.
Lunch with Jon is easy and fun—no pressure, no pretense. Across the room, a splat of lunch launches a food fight at Bryce’s table. Suddenly Bryce is at hers, clutching her hands, urgently asking if she likes Jon. Before she can answer, he leans in. Panic rises. The kiss she once wanted more than anything now feels impulsive and performative, born of jealousy, not understanding. She pulls away and runs. At home, she tells her mother that Bryce is a “coward” inside and that she has to get past his looks. Her mother opens up: Mrs. Loski has been confiding about her marriage to Rick Loski, suggesting even Bryce’s mother is seeing who her husband really is.
Days pass. Bryce tries to talk; Juli avoids him. Then she spots him in her yard with a shovel. Her father, Robert Baker, says he gave permission. Bryce plants a baby sycamore in the front lawn. The gesture lands like a bell—precise, thoughtful, and exactly right. Juli studies the tree, then looks up at Bryce’s window. He waves. She waves back. They have never truly talked, she realizes. Maybe it’s time. Maybe there is more to Bryce than she knows.
Character Development
Both narrators step into who they are becoming rather than who others expect them to be. Jealousy catalyzes Bryce’s honesty; self-respect anchors Juli’s boundaries.
- Bryce Loski: Moves from passive avoidance to active integrity. He rejects shallow status, ends a toxic friendship, and follows a moral compass—first clumsily with a kiss, then meaningfully by planting the sycamore.
- Juli Baker: Reclaims agency. She refuses to be ruled by an old crush, acts compassionately for Jon, and demands sincerity over spectacle, even when it costs her a dream moment.
- Chet Duncan: Quiet mentor whose clarity—“She’s the same…you’ve changed”—names Bryce’s arc and nudges him toward empathy.
- Garrett Anderson: Fully exposed as a social gatekeeper whose values Bryce outgrows.
- Shelly Stalls: Embodies the auction’s superficial economy, sharpening the contrast with what Juli and Bryce come to value.
Themes & Symbols
These chapters crystallize Perception vs. Reality. The same moments—an auction, a kiss—look radically different from opposite sides. Bryce’s jealous lunge feels romantic to him and hollow to Juli; his later act with the shovel finally aligns what he feels with what she values. That alignment marks real Coming of Age and Personal Growth: Bryce takes responsibility for past failures, and Juli protects her self-worth without losing compassion.
Family contrasts sharpen Family Influence and Dynamics. The Bakers’ open conversation helps Juli process the chaos; the Loskis’ unraveling, as Mrs. Loski confronts Rick’s character, mirrors Juli’s deflation of Bryce’s image. Symbols reinforce the shift: the Basket Boy auction reduces people to price tags, while the sycamore rehumanizes them. Planting that tree embodies the idea that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts—history, listening, and effort matter more than a single grand gesture.
Key Quotes
“She’s the same as she’s always been; you’re the one who’s changed.” Chet’s line reframes the entire arc. Juli doesn’t transform to suit Bryce; Bryce grows into someone capable of seeing who she has been all along.
“Do the right thing.” Chet’s motto becomes Bryce’s internal compass. It pushes him past performance—status, price tags, public stunts—and toward authentic repair.
Bryce: “I wanted, just had to kiss her. I leaned in, closed my eyes, and then … She broke away from me.” From his view, pure feeling justifies action. His shock at the rejection shows how far he still is from understanding Juli’s boundaries.
Juli: “My heart was racing and his eyes were closing and his face was coming toward mine … . I panicked.” Her panic clarifies why the kiss fails: context matters. Without trust and timing, the “dream” moment rings false.
“Maybe there is more to Bryce Loski than I know.” Juli’s final line opens the door she had closed—on her terms. Openness replaces infatuation, making room for genuine connection.
Why This Matters and Section Significance
This is the emotional apex and the turn toward resolution. Bryce, once desperate to escape Juli, now fights to deserve her attention; Juli, once defined by a crush, now chooses what honors her values. The failed kiss exposes the gap between intention and impact; the sycamore closes it through empathy and effort. By ending a hollow friendship and planting a living promise, Bryce proves change. By reconsidering without surrendering her standards, Juli invites a beginning built on truth rather than fantasy.