User:Karlasilvers/sandbox

Plot-- Sixteen year old Eleanor Douglas gets onto the bus on her first day at a new school. The students on the bus see her and arrange themselves, so that the extra space is covered and Eleanor doesn't sit near them. Park refuses to acknowledge Eleanor. Eleanor stays standing as the bus drives on, and more kids get on and take their seats. She soon gets accosted to sit down by the bus driver. Eleanor's mother told her that her step father Richie could drive her to school on his way to work, but Eleanor refuses. Eleanor finally finds an empty seat and gets the courage to sit, only to be stopped by Tina, a popular girl who is small with big hair. Park, listening to his walkman is irritated when he see's that Eleanor is about to cry and he moves over in his seat and tells Eleanor to sit down, which neither of them are pleased about. Eleanor sat, leaving six inches between her and Park, and said nothing on their way to school.

After many days of taking the bus together in silence, Park realizes Eleanor is reading his comic books on the bus. He doesn't know what to say to her, awkward from the silence. He opens the comic book in his lap wider, so Eleanor can get a better view of it. Eleanor notices that Park realized that she's reading his comics, but neither of them acknowledge it. He starts a new comic and lets Eleanor read with him. At the end of the school day, Park opens his comic book back to where they'd left off that morning. They were still reading when they got to Eleanor's stop, both engrossed in the story. As she got up to leave, he handed her the comic book. She tried to hand it back, but he'd already turned away. She reads it three times that night.

One afternoon, Eleanor's mother looses her temper when two of her brothers, Ben and Mouse, are fighting over a toy, so she pushes them all out the back door. Their house was right next to the elementary school where Ben and Maisie went, the playground right in their backyard. Sitting outside with her brother, Ben asks Eleanor what it was like when she left, to live with the Hickmans, an old friend of her mothers. Eleanor was supposed to stay there for a couple of days, which turned into a whole year. Eleanor slept in the living room and tried to make herself as small as possible, not to bother the Hickmans after over hearing the husband saying he should call the state.

Park starts bringing Eleanor a stack of comics for her to read, which she would read at night after her brothers and sister fell asleep. The next day, on the school bus, he noticed lyrics from the band, the Smiths, on her textbook cover. She confessed she did not know who they were, but that the song titles on her book is a wish list of songs that she would like to hear. Later that night, Park made a mixtape of all of his favorite songs and put it in his book bag, as well as more comic books.

During gym class, Eleanor noticed that nobody has picked on her that day. When she got to her locker after gym, she realized why: her locker was covered with Kotex pads that were colored in with red magic marker. Eleanor refused to let others see her cry so she held her chin high and started peeling off the pads. As everyone left two black girls stayed and they helped her pull of pads. She had made two new friends, DeNice and Beebi. On the bus, Park let her borrow his Walkman. The next day, Eleanor and Park's friendship began as they talked about their mutual love of music and the comic books. After that morning, Eleanor and Park started noticing each other, particular things about each other throughout the day.

One night, after his taekwondo lesson, Park raced to Eleanor's house to show her a comic book. Richie answered the door, looking angry that Eleanor had a visitor. Eleanor and Park read the comic book on the elementary school steps. When Eleanor returned home that night, that Richie became suspicious of Eleanor. Her mother tried to convince her not to get involved with a boy, because it would enrage Richie, but Eleanor reassured her mother that he was never going to return. The next day on the bus, Park apologized for going to Eleanor's house last night and for getting her in trouble. They held hands for the rest of the bus ride.

Eleanor gets a call at school one day: Her father wants her to babysit his girlfriends son as the go to a wedding. After some arguing, her mother let her babysit. The next morning, Eleanor asked Park for his number, so she can use her fathers phone, since she doesn't have a phone at her own house. He offers to write it on the cover of her textbook but she says no, not wanting her mother to see it. That's when Park notices the words "suck me off" written on her cover. Eleanor has not seen that before and furiously scribbles over it. Eleanor notes this isn't the first time someone has insulted her. Park gives Eleanor his number, which she remembers by the tune of a song, considering it a date. They talk on the phone that night, and Park tells Eleanor he loves her.

As Eleanor and Park are speaking on the bus, they hear a chanting begin: "Go Big Red." Steve and Tina noticed Eleanor and Park hunched over in their seats and began the chant. Angry, Park tackles Steve when they get to school, using his taekwondo moves on Steve, and tells Steve to leave his girlfriend alone. Park gets suspended. His mother believes that Eleanor his a bad influence on him and she grounds him, not allowing him to see Eleanor. After that day, Eleanor finds more perverted notes written on her textbooks.

One night while Eleanor was sleeping, she hears gunshots. She sneaks out of her house and goes to her neighbor to call the police. Eleanor's mother makes Eleanor tell the police that it was a mistake, that she did not hear the gunshot. Richie yells at Eleanor, accusing her of trying to get rid of Richie. After the police leave, Eleanor's mother warns her to never call the police again —Richie just wanted to scare some teens who were being loud. Eleanor recounts the time when Richie kicked her our the previous year: It was a summer day and Eleanor was bored, she was playing on her new type writer. Richie was in a bad mood and was annoyed at the sound of the type writer. When he had had enough, he ran into Eleanor's room and hurled the type writer across the room, yelling profanity at Eleanor. Eleanor's anger spiked and she started yelling back at Richie. Richie went to attack Eleanor, but her mother got to her first, and took Eleanors' arm and ran out of the house, away from Richie.

Eleanor starts lying to her mother, saying she's going to her friend Tina's house, when she was really going to Park's house. Eleanor had already been to Park's house once and it did not end well; she was visibly uncomfortable and left crying. Park's mother does not like Eleanor, and Eleanor could tell. After dinner with Park and his family one night, Park walks Eleanor to his grandparents driveway (they live next door), behind a tree and an RV, and he kisses Eleanor.

As Eleanor and Park are doing homework in Park's kitchen, Park notices more perverted notes left on Eleanor's textbook. Eleanor suspects this is Tina's doing, that Tina constantly makes fun of Eleanor. Park rebukes this, saying Tina would never stoop so low, that they used to be friends. He admits that he and Tina dated when they were younger. Park thinks that Eleanor is writing the perverted messages herself, which makes Eleanor angry and storms out of Parks house. Eleanor skips school on their last day before Christmas break, to avoid Park.

Eleanor lets a letter in a mail from her Uncle Geoff who lives in Minnesota, inviting Eleanor over the summer, to a program for gifted high school students at his university. Richie immediately says no.

Christmas Eve, Eleanor and her family go grocery shopping, as does Park and his mother. His mother see's Eleanor with her family and becomes upset. Later that night, she enters Park's room and gives him a present to Eleanor, from her. She tells him about her life in Korea, about her three younger brothers and sisters, having to sacrifice a lot to have everyone fed and clothed. She understands Eleanor now that she had seen her family. That night, Park runs to Eleanors house and knocks on her window and she tells him to meet her at the school. They spend hours there that night, kissing and talking. Eleanor spends her days at Parks house for the rest of their Christmas break.

One day at Parks house, Eleanor brings up Mrs. Sheridan's job as a beautician, and Mrs. Sheridan decides to give Eleanor a makeover. She washes Eleanor's hair and puts make up on her. Mrs. Sheridan puts eyeliner on Park to show Eleanor that it is painless. Park plays rock, paper, scissor with Eleanor to distract her. After Mrs. Sheridan is done, Eleanor looks in the mirror and begins to cry, thinking Park and his mother prefer her with make up. Park's mother gives her some make up to bring home, which she puts in her Grapefruit box that her uncle sent her, along with her comics from Park.

After gym class one day, Eleanor finds that her clothes are missing from her lock—and have been flushed down the toilet. Her gym teacher writes her a pass to go see her guidance counseler and Eleanor sneaks outside and goes around, to avoid anyone seeing her in her gym suit, but Park does.

Park and Eleanor go on a date one night, when they are at Parks house and his mother announces she doesn't want to cook dinner. Park takes the car and drives them downtown. He takes Eleanor to his favorite pizza place, ice cream place, and book shops, holding her hand the whole time. They spend tim at Central Park, talking about the future, specifically Prom. They get back to the car and realize it's not as late as they thought it was. The end up in the back seat and reach second base.

Eleanor got home that night, and she heard Richie yelling and her mother crying. As she walked into her room, she noticed comic books ripped on the floor, the make up Park's mother gave her was everywhere. She found her grapefruit box ripped in half, which a message written on it—the same handwriting that had left perverted notes all over her textbooks—It was Richie's handwriting. Richie found out about Eleanor dating Park. Eleanor realizes the danger she's in and runs away to Steve's garage. She then walks over to Park's house and Eleanor tells him she has to go. Park takes the keys to his fathers truck and takes Eleanor away, to her uncles house in Minnesota. After a tearful goodbye, she settles in.

Park writes Eleanor plenty of letters after she starts living with her aunt and uncle, none of which she opens. Eleanor does not write to Park. After months of silence, Park receives a post card that Eleanor had written him, only three words long.

Domestic Abuse
This is a big issue that revolves around Eleanor with her stepfather Richie. There are countless times when Eleanor notices bruising on her mothers face. Richie accosts Eleanor’s mother both physically—though Rowell never shows us Richie hitting Eleanor’s mother, Sabrina—and emotionally. Richie yells at Sabrina throughout most of the novel, and Eleanor is so used to it that she can “sleep through the screaming.” Sabrina treads lightly around Richie, so as not to spike his anger, making sure everything is right so Richie won’t hurt her or the kids.

Child Abuse
Ritchie physically abuses the kids, hitting them when they do something wrong, as well as verbally abusing them, calling them insults. The kids go without new clothes or shoes, wearing the couple of items Eleanor’s mother can get at Goodwill. The children don’t have toothbrushes or toothpaste, nor shampoo or conditioner to wash their hair; they only have access to dish washing soap. They don’t have much to eat, either. All five children sleep in a small bedroom with a bunk bed, the younger kids bunched together on one mattress, and sometimes one child sleeps on the floor.

Bullying
Eleanor deals with bullying at school and at home. At school, her classmate Tina bullies her, as well as the other students about her size and her big red hair, calling her names. Tine one day putting pads on her gym locker, colored deeply with red magic marker to resemble blood. Eleanor finds vulgar messages written on the cover of her textbooks, only to find out that it was her stepfather Richie who wrote them. Her father makes comments about Eleanor’s weight, as well was Richie, whose comments are much vulgar.

Body Image
Eleanor is a full-figured character, and she is constantly bullied about her size. She wears large clothing presumably to hide her body. Her father makes constant remarks about her size, claiming she eats a lot. Ritchie throws insults at Eleanor, calling her names that regard her large frame. Eleanor does not hate being fat, but dislikes how much of an outcast she becomes because she looks different than anyone else. Park loves everything about Eleanor, body type included. Park mentions how he didn’t realize Eleanor had so much “negative space.”