Flipped

Bryce has been avoiding his annoying neighbor, Juli Baker, for six years. It started right before second grade, on the day when Bryce moved in. Juli had approached him and his dad (Rick) as they unloaded the moving truck, offering her help. When Bryce headed back inside his house, Juli ran after him, and as he tried to block her from grabbing him, their fingers accidentally tangled, leaving them holding hands—before Bryce’s mom (Patsy) came outside and he pulled away. After that, Juli became obsessive, always asking Bryce’s parents if he could play and doing soccer tricks in her yard to impress him. Bryce’s parents tried to run interference, but his older sister, Lynetta, loved inviting Juli inside to annoy him.

On the first day of second grade, Juli surprised Bryce with a hug, and his peers teased him nonstop. For the next few years, he ignored her as much as he could, but in fifth grade he decided to “take action” by asking out Shelly Stalls, a girl Juli hates. They only dated for a week before Shelly and Juli came to blows, and Shelly broke up with him. Then, in sixth grade, Juli was assigned the seat behind Bryce’s. She developed the bizarre habit of sniffing his hair, which aggravated him, but she also fed him answers on spelling tests. Still determined to shake her off, Bryce told himself that seventh grade at their new junior high would be his chance to finally escape her.