Chapter n°2

Hey guys,

the last days I read the second chapter and it was sooooooo much to read. It's around 30 pages long haha. But I'm sure some of you might also know the feeling that you're interested how your story's going on and what will happen next in your book, so you keep reading and reading, however, haha.

Chapter two starts with Sam talking about his mum. She's thirty-two years old, at the time he's talking about, so she's a really young mother. I can imagine that sometimes it's strange for children if their parents aren't much older than they are because the children's friends could like the mum or dad in more than a friendship way. Sam has got this "problem" and describes it like that:

"The point is that I've got a thirty-two year-old mother that people - people my age - fancy." (p.18, ll.26f)

Another thing Sam's talking about is his family history. He mentions that every generation before him tried to do something that could make a lot of money, but all of them failed. So did his mum. She

"could have gone to university, but instead she was married just before her seventeenth birthday." (p.19, ll.19-21) 

Sam tries to be the first person in his family history that gets

"(...) a qualification in something while (...)" 

being still at school. (p.19, l.30f)

The most important thing in chapter two is that Sam mentions how he met Alicia for the first time.
When I think about a boy and a girl meeting for the first time, I mostly imagine a situation like in school or while doing a hobby, but Sam and Alicia meet another way.
Sam's mum was invited to a fiftieth birthday party by Andrea, a woman she knew from the council. Andrea is Alicia's mum and she wanted Sam's mum to bring him along. How would you react to something like that? Your mum wants to take you to a birthday party where you don't know anybody. Would you go or not?

Before I go on writing about their first meeting, I have to mention a conversation Sam and his mum had before going to the party. They talked about the age Alicia's mum had in contrast to Sam's mum. At first Sam thinks that Alicia has to be really old because Andrea is already 50 years old, but his mum explains that it's normal to be 50 while having a 16 year-old child.
Sam comes up with the argument that he's allowed to get drunk when his mum turns 50 and his mum replies:

"(...) it's the only argument I've ever heard for having a kid at sixteen." (p.23, ll.11f) 

As a result Sam names that he

"(...) didn't like it when she said things like that. It always felt like it was my fault, somehow." (p.23, ll.13f)

Before reading this book I've never really thought about arguments for or against having a child at a young age. Now I did think about it a bit - I'll mention them later.

First of all I have to carry on talking about Sam and Alicia. For me their first meeting seems to be a bit strange (or Alicia seems to be a bit strange) because at the beginning she doesn't want to talk to Sam. She kind of ignores him. Sam does the same until Alicia begins to laugh and they start a conversation. They talk about music and their families before they go up to Alicias room and watch a film.

For you it might seem like there isn't much between Sam and Alicia but because of the way he describes her I can tell that she means a lot to him.

"(...) when she laughed, I could feel some part of me flip over." (p.25, ll.10f) 

is just one quote showing that Sam really likes her.

Just one day after the birthday party the two are on their first date. They planned to go to the cinema, but instead they go to Alicias place. Although Sam has to think about his family history, his mum having a kid at 16 and he not wanting to make the same "mistake", he has sex with Alicia this night.

Everybody has a special connection to their mum. Either it's because of things you went through together, because you get along with each other really well or because whatever. Because everybody has a unique connection to their mum, for me it's been really interesting finding out something about the connection between Sam and his mum.

Sam and his mum've got a normal "teenager-mum connection" like I would call it. They fight like on page 13, line 12f :

"(...) how I'd lost my temper with Mum for no reason (...)" 

but they also care for each other. For Sam it matters whom his mum is in a relationship with which is shown by the following quotes:

"Mum got rid of Steve, her rubbish boyfriend." (p.9, l.4)

 or

"(...) Mum was watching a DVD (...) and she seemed happy to me (...)." (p.14, ll.11f)

Sam's mum tries to understand his son as good as possible, but Sam prefers to talk to a poster of Tony Hawk anyhow.

"I'm not dissing my mum, but she hasn't got a clue, really." (p.12, ll.2f)

I think everybody in my age knows a similar situation where we prefer to talk to somebody else instead of our parents. Am I right?
Sam has got a very young mum. Further above I mentioned that I was thinking about some arguments for and against, so here they are:

older parents:
- sometimes can't understand their children (too much time between them)
- can take responsibility better
- can offer children more
younger parents:
- still children aswell
- want to enjoy their own life
- can understand their children better (young themselves/  not many years between them)
- maybe harder to take whole responsibility

I don't want to judge what's better and what's not because I think it mostly depends on what the parents make out of the situation.
Sam's mum talks to Sam like they're friends.

"And you think she's someone I'd like? - As far as I can tell, she's someone every boy likes." (p.21, ll.11f)

She's not really strict and she doesn't show him her power.
But sometimes she wants to meet a man without telling him that she's already got a 16 year-old son. She probably wishes to be alone and to be able to go on a date without thinking about Sam.

"My Mum was talking to a bloke, and she wasn't thrilled to see me." (p.29, ll.15f)

The second chapter has been a really long one, that's why it's also a pretty long blog post - sorry haha :)

I tried to only mention the important things, but suddenly everything seems to be so :D

Have a nice and sunny weekend!

Maike