The History of Luck (Jude, Age 16)
- Jude's lying in bed, thinking about everything and everyone. What's Noah's deal, anyway? She's still puzzled that she ran into him near Guillermo's studio.
- Thinking she hears a noise, she prowls around the house. She stops in her parents' rooms and looks at an old picture of her mom and dad. They looked happy.
- She reflects on her mother's life. Dianna Sweetwine was kind of a wild child, but she never really talked about her past.
- Jude sits at her mother's makeup mirror, dabbing on her mom's perfume and using her hairbrush. She is super sad.
- Back in her own room, not much has changed. Jude's feeling depressed.
- She thinks about how sad Noah has been. She looks up his Lost Connections ad for Brian. Yep, still there.
- She has an idea: maybe she could contact Brian. She starts to Google. (Thanks, Google.)
- Surprise! Brian is out now, and he's already a baseball icon at 17.
- Evidently, when Brian went back to school after that winter break, he came out of the closet. His teammates supported him. Yay.
- Also, Brian's at Stanford now on a baseball scholarship. That's not too far away.
- Jude is emailing Brian a link to Noah's Lost Connections post. OMG, Jude.
- At the studio the next day, Oscar and Guillermo are arguing when Jude arrives. She feels sorry for Oscar even though she's mad at him.
- Jude goes to the church, then returns to Guillermo's. He asks her how everything's going. He knows about the incident with Oscar.
- Today's lesson involves power tools. Jude's still working on the sculpture of her and Noah.
- As she works, Jude thinks that someone is watching her from the fire escape. Hmm.
- Still working, Jude thinks back to the day her mother died. She's still got a lot of guilt floating around.
- She has another memory. A few weeks after her mom's death, Jude mailed the art school applications at the post office. Only instead of mailing Noah's application too, she threw it away.
- She tried to tell her dad and Noah what happened, but she couldn't bring herself to admit it.
- Jude got into art school. Noah didn't. (It's hard to get accepted when your application doesn't show up.) He destroyed all his art and became "normal" (a.k.a. caring about fitting in instead of art) after that.
- Guillermo notices that Jude's upset and asks if she wants to take a break. She doesn't.
- Still working, Jude becomes really mad at her mother. Why did she favor Noah so much? Why could she never see Jude's talent?
- Somehow Jude comes to the decision that she has to get Noah into art school. She feels better having had this epiphany. She emails Sandy, her teacher, and texts Noah that she wants to talk.
- First Brian, now Sandy. Maybe if she sends enough emails her bro will be happy again.
- Jude returns to her sculpture and uses a power tool to split the sculpture of her and Noah. Now they're separate. She feels better.
- Jude heads home feeling content. She wonders why Noah hasn't been responding to her texts.
- She gets a text from Heather. Noah's super drunk and about to jump off a cliff.
- Oh. That's why.
- Jude's searching for Noah, but the cliffs are empty. She runs into Zephyr and some other guys partying and asks if they've seen her brother.
- Jude flashes back to the time that she and Zephyr had sex. It sounds even more rape-y this time.
- She remembers running home from the beach that night to look for her mom…but her mother was dead.
- Zephyr points to a far-away bluff. That's where Noah is. Jude is freaking out. She takes off. Zephyr runs after her.
- He tells Jude that he's been looking out for Noah, and for her. She screams at him that she was too young. Then she attacks him. Whoa.
- As she approaches the bluff, Jude hears the crowd chanting her last name. Noah's last name. This shmoop's getting intense.
- They finally arrive at the top. Noah is very, very drunk, and way too close to the edge of the cliff.
- Jude tries to grab Noah, but he eludes her grasp and heads for the edge. Jude falls and hits her head.
- When she opens her eyes, she's confused. Oscar is there, pinning Noah to the ground. Where'd he come from?
- Oscar and Noah greet each other like old friends. Jude is still confused.
- Noah tells Jude that he's been drinking because he's freaking out about her texts. He thinks she knows. (Knows what?)
- Jude's still mad at Oscar about the bedroom incident. He apologizes. He seems to mean it.
- Jude tells Noah that Oscar saved his life. Noah says he could have jumped. His mom always slows him down in the air. Jude believes him—she's seen it.
- Noah seems to want to unload all his problems, but he's too drunk to have a real conversation. Oscar offers to walk them home.
- On the way back, Oscar explains why he's there. He was sitting around thinking about drinking when he saw Jude and Zephyr streak past.
- He gives Jude a seashell necklace that belonged to his mother. They hold hands the rest of the way back to the house. Aw. Guess that makes up for the other lady in the bedroom.
- Jude's back in her room, alone. Oscar's gone home. He still thinks she's in college, by the way. She knows she needs to confess her real age.
- She starts working on a smock she's making for Guillermo. She hears a knock at the window. Oscar! She puts on some makeup and a dress.
- Oscar's impressed with her new look. He kisses her. All at once, Jude realizes he's the guy from Noah's portrait all those years ago.
- The keep kissing. And kissing. Get a room, guys. (For example, Jude's. He is at her window.)
- Oscar's poking around Jude's room (there we go), looking at her photos. Jude confesses that she heard Oscar arguing with Guillermo that morning.
- Oscar says that he's afraid of Jude. He knows she could hurt him. He feels vulnerable.
- He tells her that nothing happened with that other girl (during the bedroom incident).
- Jude pulls out Noah's old portrait of Oscar—the one he tore up.
- Suddenly, Oscar sees a photo on Jude's dresser. He realizes that Jude and Noah are twins. He looks freaked. He bolts.
- Jude studies the picture, puzzled. It's a family portrait—her, Noah, Mom, and Dad.