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Fiona
Gavin Vance, Jessica’s longtime crush, is the mayor’s son, and a regular contributor to the school newspaper. When he calls Jessica in the hospital after her accident, Jessica sourly reflects that it took an amputation to get him to notice her. After Jessica’s track teammate Merryl clings to Gavin in faux-distress at the memorial service of freshman Lucy (who died in the school-bus accident that crushed Jessica’s leg), Gavin begins dating Merryl out of pity, yet he continually seeks out and talks to Jessica, with whom he has a natural rapport. After Jessica’s track coach Kyro and the entire track team start a fundraising push to buy Jessica a $20,000 running prosthesis, Gavin publishes a story in the local paper about Jessica and the track team’s fundraising that brings in thousands of dollars of donations. The summer after Jessica’s accident, Gavin breaks up with Merryl and admits to Jessica that he likes her. They begin dating. When Jessica decides to push her friend Rosa, who has cerebral palsy, in a wheelchair for the 10 miles of the River Run, Gavin jogs alongside Jessica and Rosa in a TEAM ROSA t-shirt along with Fiona and Mario.
Gavin Vance Quotes in The Running Dream
The The Running Dream quotes below are all either spoken by Gavin Vance or refer to Gavin Vance. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
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Part 4: Adjusting the Blocks Quotes
Who’s always there when he comes up to talk to me?
Who is caring and involved and a doer, just like him?
My beautiful, long-legged best friend, Fiona.
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“But I thought . . .” I shake my head. “Why else would he have come along?”
She scoots in and gives me a hug. “You are worthy, okay? Quit telling yourself you’re not.”
All of a sudden I’m crying. “Thanks,” I whisper, and hug her tight.
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Part 5: Starting Line Quotes
It’s disturbing how fast weeds take root in my garden of worthiness.
They’re so hard to pull.
And grow back so easily.
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"My students can't get enough of your charts and their results have gone through the roof." -Graham S.
Gavin Vance Character Timeline in The Running Dream
The timeline below shows where the character Gavin Vance appears in The Running Dream. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Part 1: Finish Line
...her hospital-room phone rings. Fiona, who’s visiting, picks it up and—shocked—mouths to Jessica that it’s Gavin Vance. Jessica thinks that she’s longed for such a phone call for years. When she...
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...events for track and wasn’t friends with Lucy—was at Lucy’s service and was “turning to Gavin for comfort.” Fiona and Jessica gossip about how strange it is that Merryl’s chasing a...
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Part 2: Headwind
...school day before the weekend. Jessica agrees to think about it. Then Fiona reveals that Gavin has been asking after Jessica—but has also started dating Merryl. When Jessica consoles herself by...
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...Fiona has decorated with balloons and a “Welcome Back Jessica!!!” sign. Fiona informs Jessica that Gavin helped her with the decorations. Jessica asks how early Fiona got to school to decorate,...
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...mentions that Merryl didn’t show up to the track team’s party for Jessica and calls Gavin “shallow” for dating her. When Jessica points out that most girls shallowly like Gavin for...
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...Lucy’s death and her own amputation, concludes that she cares more about that than about Gavin and Merryl: “I’m over Gavin Vance.”
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Part 3: Straightaway
...goes to compete in the high jump with Merryl, Jessica peels off to avoid Merryl—and Gavin, who’s by the high jump. She walks on crutches across the track to the bleachers....
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...Jessica is crutching to the high-jump pit to tell Fiona about this unexpected encounter when Gavin approaches her, saying it’s “great to see [her] out here.” Jessica asks how Merryl did...
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...people who don’t buy anything but just write checks and give them to Kyro. When Gavin shows up, Jessica wants to cover her prosthesis and hide. Watching him hold hands with...
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...is Fiona, who tells her to look at the paper because she’s the Community section’s headline—Gavin got an article published about the fundraiser. After Fiona hangs up, Jessica and her mother...
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Afterward, Jessica’s mother asks whether Jessica knows Gavin. Internally, Jessica contemplates the question: does she know him, given that he’s an incredible writer...
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Chapter 22. Jessica calls Gavin a couple times without reaching him. On the third try, she leaves a message that...
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Part 4: Adjusting the Blocks
...was trying to run—but couldn’t. Rosa assures Jessica that Jessica will run, says she put Gavin’s article on her wall, and asks why Jessica likes running. After a thoughtful hesitation, Jessica...
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Chapter 3. In the aftermath of Gavin’s article not bringing in donations, the track team’s fundraising efforts become lackluster. On Thursday morning,...
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...Marla should ask her parents and gives Marla her number. After the interview, she encounters Gavin and awkwardly thanks him for the article. He says that the news team came because...
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Jessica and Gavin stand at Rigor Mortis Bend and cheer for Fiona, who’s running the 800-meter. When Fiona...
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Chapter 8. At school, Jessica keeps running into Gavin without Merryl. When Gavin asks where Jessica and Fiona are eating lunch, Jessica mentions to...
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...Fiona arrives to take Jessica to an appointment with Hank—and surprises her by asking whether Gavin can come too. To Jessica’s surprise, Rosa tells Gavin he can go and then starts...
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Chapter 13. At Hank’s office, Chloe praises Gavin’s newspaper article and the news story about Jessica. Jessica feels a little guilty, thinking that...
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Jessica lets Fiona and Gavin come back to the exam room with her, but when Hank’s measurements of her socket...
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As Fiona, Jessica, and Gavin drive away from Hank’s, Jessica tells Gavin she hopes “it didn’t freak [him] out.” Gavin...
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Chapter 14. Jessica concludes that Gavin has been spending time with her to see Fiona, her “long-legged best friend.” All weekend,...
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...Langston. Then Fiona asks to come over. Jessica concludes that Fiona wants to confess that Gavin likes her, not Jessica. When Fiona arrives, she asks Jessica whether Jessica would feel okay...
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Chapter 17. As the school year ends, Fiona goes to prom with Mario, and though Gavin continues to seek out Jessica, he goes with Merryl. Over the summer, Fiona and Jessica...
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...foyer. The guests include not only her family, Kyro, and the track team but also Gavin and Marla Sumner. Kyro hands Jessica a box. When she opens it, she finds a...
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Part 5: Starting Line
...she rapidly realizes she won’t finish the loop, she keeps coaxing herself to go farther—until Gavin, jogging through the neighborhood, waylays her and laughingly asks what she’s doing. She says it’s...
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Gavin tells Jessica that he got together with Merryl out of pity because she seemed so...
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Chapter 5. After Gavin and Jessica finish kissing, he asks her to confirm that he doesn’t irritate her. She...
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Gavin points out that the River Run is 10 miles long. Jessica says she knows—and she’s...
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...When Jessica reenters her house, she realizes her father saw her on the sidewalk with Gavin, the wheelchair, and the potting soil, so she explains who Gavin is and her idea...
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Chapter 7. For the rest of summer, Jessica runs with Gavin in the mornings and hangs out with him, Fiona, and Mario in the afternoons. She...
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Eventually Fiona and Mario, as well as Gavin, start accompanying Jessica on her runs. When Mario comments on all the “Go, Jessica” yells...
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...she has a high-tech prosthesis—except Merryl, who waylays her one day and tells her that Gavin is only dating her as a “community service project.” Jessica is shocked into silence. When...
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Chapter 14. On the morning of the River Run, Jessica, Rosa, Gavin, Fiona, and Mario gather excitedly in the race’s holding area. They’re all wearing TEAM ROSA...
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...her want to go faster. By mile four, she’s already feeling tired. When she asks Gavin how fast they’re going, he says 10:30 minutes/mile—and Jessica realizes she needs to slow down....
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...“asked for.” Jessica yells to Lucy in the cemetery that they miss her, and Fiona, Gavin, and Mario echo her.
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