Chapter 11-20
Since she may have to care for Elijah, Morgan worries about how she and
Clara will survive. Clara returns from school and wonders why Jonah left
Elijah. While washing Elijah’s bottles, Morgan sends Clara to the store for
diapers.
Clara goes to the store by passing Miller’s house. Clara decides to drive to
Jonah’s house and confront him. Jonah and his house are depressed. Clara
is furious that Jonah has burdened her mother. After Clara’s words, Jonah
rushes to get him.
Jonah apologizes for abandoning Elijah at Morgan’s house. Jonah’s actions
are not Morgan’s fault. She thinks Jenny and Chris concealed Elijah’s
paternity to avoid Clara’s wrath. She collapses after Jonah and Elijah leave.
Clara’s arrival wakes her up. Morgan asks Clara where she’s been and
forbids Miller. Later that evening, Morgan hammers her hated kitchen door.
They argue.
Clara drinks coffee in Starbucks two weeks later. She describes how she has
been avoiding home by staying at Starbucks until her curfew and how she
now likes coffee, which she used to hate. Clara and Morgan haven’t talked in
a while. Clara reveals that her mother lied to her about Morgan and Jonah’s
hotel trip.
Clara receives an Instagram follower notification from Miller. Miller tells her
he’s broken up as they chat. She’s at Starbucks. A drive is planned. Miller
informs Clara of his grandfather’s cancer diagnosis in the car. They talk at
Starbucks. Clara admits to entering the film contest. After Clara briefly dated
another boy and Miller started dating Shelby, Miller confesses to Clara that
he has had a crush on her for three years. Before leaving in Miller’s car, they
kiss. They embrace. Miller leaves after realizing Clara is late.
Morgan waits at home for Clara while Jonah fixes the kitchen door. They
debate telling Elijah and Clara about Chris being Elijah’s father before Jonah
leaves for the night. Morgan denies telling Clara. Jonah leaves Clara’s house.
Morgan avoids Clara’s questions about Jonah and her.
Morgan recalls the “worst day of [her] life” when she found out she was
pregnant. With Jonah, Jenny, and Chris, she remembers the lake. When
Jenny and Chris go to the store, Jonah starts confessing his feelings for
Morgan. Morgan confesses her pregnancy out of fear of betraying her sister
and Chris. Jonah drowns. He announces to Morgan that he’s breaking up
with Jenny. After Jenny and Jonah leave, Morgan tells Chris she’s pregnant.
Jonah breaks up with Jenny and leaves without saying goodbye to Chris and
Morgan the next day.
CHAPTER 16 – 20
Miller texts Clara later that night. Miller calls Clara and admits he fell for her
after seeing her lead performance in a school play years earlier. Miller
admits feeling unworthy of Clara.
Clara tells Lexie about Miller the next day. Clara enters school with Miller.
Clara’s happiness turns to grief and guilt. Clara talks to Jonah after Miller
drops her off. Jonah uses a roller coaster analogy to console Clara.
Miller awaits Clara. Morgan informs Clara that she is applying for a
substitute teaching position and re enrolling in college. Miller kisses Clara
without noticing Morgan while they argue. Apologizing, he meets Morgan.
Miller is dismissed and Clara argues with her mother again. Clara confronts
Morgan about her relationship with Miller, and Morgan furiously admits
that Jenny’s advice was hers. Clara yells at her mother for trying to
undermine her aunt-Clara relationship. While Clara leaves, Morgan
apologizes.
Morgan regrets claiming Jenny’s advice out of anger. Morgan’s distress
prompts Jonah to bring her into his classroom. Morgan scolds Miller in class.
Morgan requests to pick up Elijah from daycare on her way out. Agrees
Jonah.
Miller comforts Clara during lunch. Lexie jokes that Miller should set her up
with one of his friends. Lexie meets Efren through Miller. Miller and Clara
kiss and get lunch detention as Lexie and Efren start talking. Miller invites
Clara to the movies during detention. Clara deceives her mother about
Lexie.
Jonah picks up Elijah later that afternoon and continues working on
Morgan’s kitchen door. Since Chris’s death, Morgan locks Chris’s toolbox.
Morgan and Jonah find multiple Jenny-Chris letters in the toolbox. Morgan
stores Jonah’s letters in her bedroom for later reading.
Morgan watches a painting Jenny bought for Chris’s birthday while Jonah
takes the kitchen door off the hinges. Jonah hears about Jenny’s painting
purchase. They agree that Jenny and Chris lied to them. Jonah throws eggs
at the painting from Morgan’s refrigerator. Morgan. After running out of
eggs, they use other foods to destroy the painting. They laugh again after
Chris and Jenny’s deaths. As moods change, Jonah and Morgan kiss. After
Clara’s car pulls into the driveway, they separate and clean up.
Clara changes clothes. Her mother and Jonah clean the kitchen. Clara
doesn’t ask any more questions and lies to her mother about going to the
movies with Lexie.
Miller welcomes Clara to the theater. In a vacant theater, they eat
concession stand snacks. Clara makes fun of Miller’s lollipop obsession.
Miller discusses Shelby. Clara feels insecure because Miller says he was
allowed to sleep over at Shelby’s house every week.
Miller calms her. They’ll have sex at prom if they’re still together in five
months.
Morgan feeds Elijah after Jonah cleans up. After putting Elijah to bed,
Morgan and Jonah talk about the kitchen in the backyard. Morgan paces
nervously while Jonah asks if she would have stayed with Chris without
Clara. Morgan hides in her room. Followed by Jonah. Morgan expresses her
distress over their potential kiss and guilt. She criticizes Jonah’s abrupt
departure years earlier. Jonah leaves with Elijah. Follows Morgan. Jonah
calls Morgan selfish and says he left out of respect for Morgan’s relationship
with Jenny. Exhausted, Morgan collapses in the front yard.
Miller and Clara return home. She joins Morgan on the grass and expresses
concern. Morgan regrets their school fight. After Clara admits to seeing
Miller that evening, Morgan cautions her to avoid “making the same
mistake she did”.
Clara runs into the house after Morgan calls her a mistake. Morgan hides
Jenny’s Chris letters in her dresser.
Jonah asks Clara about Morgan on Monday, who hasn’t answered his texts.
Morgan concerns Clara. Miller and Clara plan to work on their film later that
evening.
Miller informs Clara that his grandfather is going to hospice at Miller’s
house. Miller informs Clara that his grandfather’s daughter, his mother, died
when he was 10. The couple passionately kisses and never starts their
project.
Morgan stops answering Jonah’s calls a week after their fight. Morgan
returns Jonah’s texts. He tells Morgan that Elijah is sick and can’t go to
daycare and asks her to watch him. That’s Morgan. She feeds Jonah while
she waits for Elijah.
Jonah admits he took Elijah to the emergency room the night before.
Morgan prepares breakfast for Jonah. She keeps Jonah informed about
Elijah’s condition. Morgan confronts Jonah via text about his role in Clara’s
project with Miller.
Jonah picks Elijah up that evening. Elijah sleeps while he and Morgan eat.
Morgan feels overwhelmed by Jonah’s compliments. He’s confronted about
sex with Jenny the year before. Jonah admits to sleeping with Jenny
because he was jealous of Morgan’s relationship with Chris and upset that
Morgan didn’t attend his father’s funeral. He asks Morgan if she liked him as
he leaves with Elijah. Before Morgan responds, Jonah kisses her.
Jonah and Morgan kiss in Clara’s presence. Clara locks herself in her room
and questions Jonah and her mother’s relationship. Clara marries Miller that
night to hurt her mother. She calls Miller after work and tells him to sneak
into her bedroom.
Miller arrives, and sex begins. Clara finds her first sexual experience
distracting. She doubts love because of her mother’s betrayal. Clara’s crying
stops Miller. She recounts Jonah and her mother kissing. Miller dresses and
leaves, upset that Clara has used him to avenge her mother. Clara cries out
to Miller for forgiveness. Together, they sleep.
Morgan swears she’ll never talk to Jonah again after the previous night. She
opens her front door to find her nosy neighbor Mrs. Nettle, who tells her
about a broken window screen on their house. Morgan enters Clara’s room
to check if she escaped and finds Miller and Clara asleep. Morgan sees
Miller’s condoms. After Morgan forgets her birthday, Clara leaves school in a
rage.
CHAPTER 26 – 30
Miller awaits Clara at school. He delivers coffee. Clara complains to Miller
that she will “no longer be following her rules.” Jonah attends Clara’s first
period. Clara compliments herself when she doesn’t immediately confront
Jonah. Later, when Jonah gently asks Clara to put her phone away, she
violently throws it across the room and breaks it. Jonah apologizes to Clara
in the hallway. She cries. He suggests Clara tell her mother about what she
saw.
Clara and Miller miss the afternoon. Their fathers are discussed at the park.
Clara describes her reluctance to discuss the kiss with her mother. Miller
recommends talking to her mother. Clara invites Miller over for dinner that
evening, convinced Morgan has forgotten birthday dinners.
Clara asks Morgan what they’re having for her birthday dinner after school.
Morgan prepares Clara’s favorite lasagna. While cooking, Jonah and Elijah
arrive for dinner. Jonah buys Clara a phone. Miller eats later. Morgan
informs Jonah of Miller’s presence in Clara’s bed.
Clara tries to leave early with Miller after dinner. Clara is enraged by
Morgan’s protest. She leaves Morgan’s house with Miller. Morgan should
release Clara, says Jonah. Morgan wants him out.
Clara sees Jonah leaving with Elijah outside the house. He kisses Clara
goodbye. Miller tells Clara that he doesn’t like how she aggravates her
mother. They fight because Miller wants to go home alone. Leaving Miller.
Morgan accuses Clara of skipping school when she arrives. Clara invites
Lexie to her room.
Lexie comforts Clara while Morgan cleans out Chris’s closet and donates his
clothes.
She browses photos. She recalls a photo of Jonah and her staring intensely.
She remembers Jonah’s pool and their strong attraction. Morgan finally
acknowledges her feelings for Jonah.
Morgan visits Jonah’s house. She tells him that if she hadn’t gotten pregnant
at 17, she would have left Chris. Passionate kisses begin. Before their kissing
becomes more intimate, Jonah confronts Morgan about her desire to hide
Jenny and Chris’s affair from Clara and Elijah. Before having sex, they argue
briefly. Morgan has a natural chemistry with Jonah. Jonah promises not to
tell Elijah about his paternity if Morgan tells Clara she wants to date him
after they have sex. Morgan tells Jonah she loves him.
Lexie and Clara discuss Morgan’s relationship with Jonah over wine. Morgan
interrupts their conversation and finds out they’ve been drinking. Lexie is
told to leave. Clara yells at her mother again after drinking. While Clara yells,
Morgan calmly collects Clara’s phone, laptop, and books.