Chapter Nine (Michael) Summary

Technically, Michael Malone was Ruby's first kiss. In eight grade, Ruby returned to Camp Ranier, where the kids had a new fascination with playing Spin-the-Bottle. When the bottle landed on a certain girl, the guy would take her into the woods and make-out with her for seven minutes - the rest of the group kept count on a stopwatch. Michael Malone's bottle landed on Ruby during the last days of camp, and nervously, she followed him into the woods. In the woods, Michael kissed her hard, waggling his head back-and-forth like he must have seen in the movies. After what felt like hours, someone yelled "Time's up" and it was over. Ruby didn't kiss anyone else for a year-and-a-half, when she began kissing Jackson and it felt like the most natural thing in the world.

Because Ruby was relatively...