Flipped

by Wendelin Van Draanen

“It’s that way with people, too,” he said, “only with people it’s sometimes that the whole is less than the sum of the parts.” I thought that was pretty interesting. And the next day during school I looked around at the people I’d known since elementary school, trying to figure out if they were more or less than the sum of their parts. Chet was right. A lot of them were less.

“You? Played in a band? What did you play, clarinet?”

“No, Bryce,” he said softly. “She’s the same as she’s always been; you’re the one who’s changed.” He clapped his hand on my shoulder and whispered, “And, son, from here on out, you’ll never be the same again.”