Most good stories start with a fundamental list of ingredients: the initial situation, conflict, complication, climax, suspense, denouement, and conclusion. Great writers sometimes shake up the recipe and add some spice.
Exposition
Houston, We Have A Problem
Actually we have a lot of problems. When the book opens up, we find ourselves in a pretty bleak place. Annabel Greene is at a crossroads in her life. She's going back to school with a best friend who hates her, a painful personal secret, a lot of concerns about her modeling career, and a family life that's turbulent at best. Just how in the world are things ever going to get better?
Rising Action
Be Honest, Does This Make Me Look Fat?
When Annabel meets Owen, her life starts to get slowly but surely better. He encourages her to tell the truth at all times and she becomes more comfortable asserting her own opinions. At the same time, things are looking up on the home front. Whitney—who was previously horrible and moody—is starting to stick to her treatment plan and even learns how to cook. And things even get better when Annabel and Owen get closer. They kiss one evening and it seems as though everything is on track to improve…
Climax
A Shared Secret
Annabel is thrown for a serious loop though, when it comes out that Emily—a former friend—has been raped by Will Cash too. With this knowledge in her mind, Annabel basically freaks out. She withdraws even more and bails on Owen at a show because her head is spinning. The reemergence of her painful secret literally sends Annabel right back to the difficult emotional place she was in at the beginning of the book—and once again, she's all alone.
Emily approaches her to ask her to testify at Will's upcoming trial, but Annabel's not sure about anything. She doesn't know if she's strong enough.
Falling Action
Making Amends
During the Christmas holidays, Clarke (Annabel's childhood best friend) reaches out to Annabel and tells her to call if she needs anything. Annabel also watches her sisters make amends and show each other how much they love each other through their art, and she realizes that she needs to apologize to Owen.
She goes to the radio station to see him and tell him that she listened to all the CDs he made her. At first he's angry, but after she apologizes and tells him about her rape and family problems, he simply says that he is sorry and is there to comfort her. He promises her that if she decides to testify, he'll be at the trial to support her.
Resolution (Denoument)
Come Clean
In the end Annabel finally works up the courage to tell her family what happened to her and to testify at Will's trial. Her mother doesn't fall apart like she expected, and Annabel realizes that she was wrong to box her family members in different categories—they are all changing all the time.
At Will's trial she gets up to speak but doesn't see Owen there. When she's leaving the courthouse, she sees him and he admits that he punched Will in the face and is now grounded. They kiss and we see that a couple weeks later, Annabel and Owen are together and she's once again friends with Clarke. Everything worked out after all.