Faking normal
Alexi is hiding, literally and physically. She hides in her closet where she can tear at the back of her neck, over and over again, never letting the scars go away. What happened to her six months ago, she has tried to bury deep within her but the pain is still there. No one knows what happened to her and she prefers it that way. Bodee, aka the Kool-aid Man has just had a traumatic experience with his parents and is now moving in with Alexi’s family who were his neighbors. A loner, Bodee reads Alexi and the two of them spark. Alexi walks around thinking that she is fooling the world about hiding her secret as she puts up her walls, hiding her self-destruction and to most people she is. When Bodee moves in, he is able to read Alexi and is able to talk with her without upsetting her and the two of them form this exceptional friendship. As Bodee deals with his past, Alexi offers him strength and compassion and their friendship strengthens. At school, Alexi has friends who question her relationship with Bodee. Having always being a strange individual, people don’t know how to accept him now that Alexi is hanging out with him and he is now part of her life. There is a huge change in Bodee too as he begins to talk more and his eyes no longer stare at the floor. Alexi’s girlfriends have steady boyfriends for the most part. They like to do things in couples so they try to find a guy for Alexi. Alexi has a hard time saying no and for this, you can feel the tension in the air and in her voice when they talk about boys with Alexi. Alexi is in love with the mystery boy who writes her messages on her desk in which she has labeled him, Captain Lyrie. Feeling connected to music lyrics, Alexi and Captain Lyrie seem to on the same page as these words describe her feelings. As the homecoming dance approaches, Alexi and Bodee’s friendship is tight and I was just waiting for the invite but sometimes things don’t work out how I had them out mapped out in my head. As Alexi and Hayden headed out for the dance, Bodee was watching and I knew…something was going to happen.
Kool-aid Man, what a terrific guy and yet, I felt so sorry for him, having to take back stage while Alexi figured things out. The tree house and the two of them just standing there surveying the area below without saying anything, what a great image. Sometimes you just don’t need words. I had to write down the Power of Bodee as he had some terrific strength about him which only Alexi saw, “the way he reads me, sees through me, and then understands the truth behind the façade.” Her girlfriends saw him as second best and perhaps later, they will see him as better than the guys they are going out with. Interesting part for me was Alexi’s sister. She was so cruel to Alexi, so evil for being an older sister. It’s like they were in elementary or middle school, the way she treated her. As Alexi shows her the account of her rape to her, her sister does a 360 degree switch immediately. She is a totally different person and that really threw me, I thought she would question Alexi about it. Interesting, at least to me it was.
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