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Who was Peter Papas? Why was he so important? Lastly Why was Ben picked for the Award?

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"Nobody seems to understand what privilege is." - Ben Pg 76

Sometimes you have parents and friends that support your choices, other times your parents or friends have beliefs that don't allow them to support you.

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Ben seems to still be in the closet and has a crush on Hannah and possibly Rafe. I speculate that he is either gay or bisexual.

I am out of the closet and my whole family knows that I'm bisexual.

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Why hasn’t he talked to Rafe ever since he had nurse him back to health during that weekend. Since he got drunk and possibly got a little bit of a hangover.

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How did Ben manage to become the team captain because in the book it says that normally seniors are voted to become team captain. So why was Ben a nominee in the first place alongside Tommy Mendenhall, and Marcus. And it did shock me a little bit that he managed to become the team captain.

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"Vulnerability is allowing people to see you exactly as you are, which is really hard, because when you’re vulnerable you can get hurt."- Hannah Pg 105

Sometimes people are just scared to show their weaknesses because someone might try and take advantage of them.

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"It’s not the studying hard that I’m concerned about. It’s my lack of understanding." - Ben Pg 107

Ben's having issues with his feelings because it never felt this way before. He doesn't understand it.

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His dad had banned his mom's friend because she wanted to sell her items in the store.

Also his dad shunned his brother when he came out as bisexual, and still hasn't accepted him.

Does his dad have a need to control the things that aren't normal or get rid of them, what if Ben is gay? Then what's going to happen to their relationship as father and son.

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It's been getting obvious that Ben likes Rafe, and he just likes Hannah as a friend. The evidence that I have to back this up is Ben leaving Hannah alone at the dance to go cheer up Rafe when he was dumped.

I bet that Ben is worried about if his father is going to disapprove of him because he's gay.

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Ben had to partner up in baseball practice with freshman who called Clement who is practically a rookie.

So I get that it can be difficult working with a freshman because in wrestling when I had to work with a freshman they don't know what they're doing because they could be new to the sport.

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According to the letters that Lolita Pappas, Peter's older sister gave him. He learns that he went to war in Vietnam not because he wanted to but in order to gain his father's approval. He figures out that he died while in Vietnam, and so did his friend Clete, from an explosion and all that remained was his bottom half.

Who is Clete? Did he know Clete before he went to war or during? Is his dad similar to Ben's dad?

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Why did he ask Rafe on a date before confessing to him?

But I'm really happy that he and Rafe are dating. It made me excited once I realized that Ben was confessing his feelings to Rafe.

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Ben was scared for the longest time of getting disowned by not living up to Dad's expectations. Until he realizes that he shouldn't have to sacrifice being with Rafe in order to live up to his Dad's expectation.

I can relate to this because I used to be extremely stressed out about not having all A's and if I didn't I thought that I would be in big trouble. Turns out I was stressing myself for no reason.

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"It's like we’re more comfortable living in the past or the future because the present moment is too uncertain and scary." - Rafe Pg 219

Being scared of the present because it's happening before your eyes and you can't control it.

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"To be yourself in a world that is constantly trying to make you something else is the greatest accomplishment." - Ben quoting Ralph Waldo Emerson Pg 231

Being yourself is important in life because you don't want to keep hurting your own happiness in order to make other's approve of you.

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I wasn't too shocked about this because I already knew that his Dad disowned him, and know he has more people that support him for being himself.

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Sacrificing your own happiness for other's approval

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Sacrificing your own happiness for other's approval

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"When would I get to stop sacrificing to make other people happy?" - Ben Pg 258

He did end up getting disowned by his Dad which is going to mean that he isn't going to need to sacrifice his own happiness for his Dad's approval anymore.