7. Chase and Tate

[Chelsea]

7. Contrast Kya’s relationships with Chase and Tate. What do each of them offer her, and what does she represent to them?

[Cindy]

They both offered her companionship. And they both seemed to be willing to accept her for the strange person she was - although neither actually did. Tate's deserting her was the worst part of the book - that was so awful.

[Chelsea]

Both wanted her physically But Tate cared for her so he made that more important than the physical relationship. Both also deserted her like Cindy mentioned. To Tate she was his love, and to Chase she was his mistress.

[Carol]

Both of the fellas' parents both spoke to their individual sons and expressed concerns about "What would that girl do to you. Would she affect you as you start to reach out toward other men? I thought Tate was one of the best caliber of men I've ever heard of. I really really really liked him and I wanted them to be as happy as they possibly could. I was quite disappointed in both sets of parents. Both wanted their daughter to be an ideal examples for and a good example for their son's!!!

[Cindy]

True, Carol! It was good to see Tate’s dad come around right at the end.

[Robin]

each of them cared about her and offered companionship at one point and abandonment at another. she represented someone different which is part of why both of them though they did care about her also didn't fully accept her. Tate shows this when he goes off to college then decides they can't be together anymore and then Chase also does the same thing by not bringing her to dances and dating other girls publicly while still secretly seeing Kya. i hated how both of them treated her because they were too afraid of what other people would think and how it attributed to Kya's loneliness.

[Chelsea]

Great comment Robin!

[Robin]

thank you, Chelsea! :)

[Barb]

I think we have all met a Chase or two in our lifetimes--jerks who think that they are owed everything. I think Chase thought Kya owed him what he wanted, after all, he was patient, right? I was truly disappointed in Tate. He rationalized that Kya would be uncomfortable and out of place in the college life. But he didn't give her the opportunity to find out. I'm glad he eventually came back, but I feel like a little piece of Kya never did become his. What a shame!

[Angela]

I'm glad she finally got rid of Chase. He was bad news and it took too long (at least somebody tried to give her a heads' up), but at least she learned things from those years, though I wish she didn't have to learn even more bad things through personal experience. It's so sad that Tate missed out on those years. I agree with Robin. I'm so glad Tate apologized, they took time to process that, and then got back together. Tate had his own things to learn. It's sad that once again Kya got hurt, but I think that he was mostly trying to balance helping her without hurting himself too much. I wonder how things would have been different if he had given her the chance at exploring what handling the college situation would have been like, and it's too bad he was afraid to try. But still, he cared for her as an entire person, not just for how he could benefit from her, and they grew from the experience.