Fangirl door Rainbow Rowell

Wren's dismissive when Cath starts talking about Simon Snow, but Courtney's interested.

Wren, obviously embarrassed, changes the subject to all the parties she and Courtney have been to; tonight they're going to one at Triangle House, an engineering fraternity.

Cath warns Wren not to get too drunk, but Wren obviously isn't listening.

4.

Three weeks into college, and Cath's eating a protein bar during her break between her biology and fiction-writing classes.

She's thinking about how she doesn't really miss her boyfriend, Abel, even though they've texted a few times; she texts him a picture of a squirrel who's trying to eat her protein bar.

Flashback to high school: Wren teased Cath a lot about how she'd hardly even kissed Abel, even though they dated for three years.

Wren, on the other hand, had a boyfriend named Jesse. It was hot and steamy, but he made Wren cry all the time.

As Cath feeds the protein bar to the squirrel, a dude named Nick from her fiction-writing class walks up to her and asks what Cath wrote about for their assignment.

He also wants to know how a freshman got into a junior-level writing class. Cath says she asked.

That night, Reagan asks Cath if she has an eating disorder, since she eats nothing but protein bars.

Cath admits she's afraid of the dining hall, and Reagan forces her to put her shoes on and go to dinner.

In the cafeteria, Reagan asks Cath what's up with the Simon Snow heads on her desk, and when Cath uses the words the fandom, Reagan is horrified.

5.

Progress: Cath's letting Levi into their room when Reagan's not home instead of making him sit in the hall.

She's also going to dinner in the dining hall with Reagan, where they snark on everyone who walks by their table.

We learn that Levi is (1) a Starbucks employee, and (2) eating Cath's protein bars behind her back.

The problem with developing a social life is that Cath's falling behind on posting chapters of Carry On, Simon to Fanfixx.net.

This is an issue when your pieces get 35,000 hits a day and your fans are clamoring for more.

Cath's busy trying to wrap up all Gemma T. Leslie's loose ends, one of which is staging the final battle between Simon and his nemesis, the Insidious Humdrum.

She posts a note of apology to her fans and goes to meet her classmate Nick in the library. Professor Piper has assigned them to write a collaborative story with another person, and Cath and Nick are working together.

Levi walks Cath to the library since it's late, and talks to her about range management—specifically, buffalo.

Cath and Nick hand the paper back and forth, taking turns writing, and Cath gets a little fangirlish about Nick. Go, Cath, go.

So of course she names the narrator after Nick, and then she makes him gay.

They work on their story until late at night, and Cath calls the sleeping Reagan to say she's coming back to the room.

Levi comes to walk her home, because he's the nicest roommate's-ex-boyfriend in the whole world.

And by the way, he tells Cath, he loves the library; it's where he sleeps.

6.

Cath and her dad play phone tag until she finally reaches him.

Turns out that in the absence of his daughters, he's been buying all his meals from the QuikTrip convenience store.

Cath makes him promise to go to the grocery store and get some real food. He says he will.

He calls her back later that night, multiple times, and leaves messages telling her he wants to install a fireman's pole from her room to the bathroom.

In case you haven't noticed yet, he's manic—um, yeah.

It's a Friday night, and Cath's in her room trying to work on Carry On, Simon, but she can't stop thinking about Nick and how much Professor Piper loved their story.

Nick works at the library on Tuesday and Thursday nights, and he asks Cath if she wants to meet there and write during his shifts. She says yes, of course.

This necessitates a call to Wren, who actually answers.

Wren is—surprise—drunk. And when Cath says she wants to talk about boys, Wren thinks she means Simon and Baz.

Cath gets annoyed, hangs up, and worries about the fact that Wren's partying too much.

The next day in the dining hall, Reagan's so hung over she doesn't feel like snarking—or showering, for that matter. It's an epidemic.

Reagan decides to go to Target with her friend Eric that afternoon, who may be more than a friend.

Cath—surprise of surprises—decides to stay in their room and write.

Reagan puts up with it for the day, but that night she drags Cath out to go bowling with her and Levi.

Levi and Reagan are good bowlers. Cath is not.

Levi schmoozes everyone in the bowling alley, because he's the friendliest social butterfly ever, and after they're done bowling, Reagan and Levi decide to go to a bar called Muggsy's. They assure Cath she could get in too, even though she's underage.

Cath, as you've probably guessed, instead opts to go home and write alone.

7.

Abel calls Cath from Missouri, which he never does.

He's breaking up with her for a girl named Katie, who got a 34 on the ACT, unlike Cath's measly 32, because that's a totally valid reason to break up with someone… not.

Cath wants to argue, but she's only halfhearted about it since she's just not that into him either.

When Nick comes walking around the corner, Cath tells Abel she has to go.

They go to Fiction-Writing together, and Cath texts Wren to come over after class.

That night, Wren gets Cath to admit that not only has she not cried over Abel, he was never really a real boyfriend.

What finally makes Cath cry, though, is that she thought she and Abel could stay together, unlike their parents.

Just as Cath is about to tell Wren about Nick, Reagan and Levi come bursting in.

Reagan is unimpressed; Levi oozes charm; Wren leaves to do something fun. Same as it ever was.

8.

Cath and Nick are in the library, working on their Fiction-Writing assignment.

They're supposed to write a story from the point of view of an unreliable narrator. Cath writes hers in Baz's voice.

They're working on an extracurricular story, too, but Nick's being kind of a notebook hog. He keeps writing ahead, and Cath has to go back and insert her own words into his paragraphs.

They've been talking a lot, and it seems a crush is developing; Cath's even been pretending she has to walk to the same building as Nick after Fiction-Writing class.

Fast-forward to Fajita Friday in Selleck Hall. Wren and Courtney are being vegan, because they're on the Skinny Bitch diet—in other words, not for, say, animal rights reasons.

The diet is to make up for the calories in alcohol. Wren says they're only skinny bitches on weekdays; on weekends, they're drunk bitches.

Wren and Courtney want to "just happen" to stop by the library to see Levi. Cath says no way.

Wren's all about getting Cath to kiss new boys now that Abel's out of the picture, but Cath isn't interested in kissing someone she's not really into.

However, she is starting to notice random boys, which is a strange and totally new thing for her.

And one boy she's noticing, besides Nick, is definitely Levi.

This weekend, however, Cath's arranged a ride back to Omaha to visit her dad; she invites Wren, but Wren's planning to party instead.

Back in Fiction-Writing class, Cath hands in her Baz paper, and Professor Piper says she can't wait to read it.

She doesn't know yet that it's about Baz.

9.

Cath has an hour to kill before she meets up with her ride to Omaha, so she goes to Starbucks.

Surprise—it's Levi's Starbucks, and he's working.

He's also being gregarious and charming to everyone, because he's Levi, and that's what he does.

Cath orders a grande coffee, but Levi insists on making her his specialty, a pumpkin mocha breve, instead. Whatever you say, Mr. Fancy Pants Barista.

Back in Omaha, Cath's dad is hard at work on an advertising pitch for a campaign for a food product called Gravioli.

He's also failed to turn on the lights or buy any groceries. Thus: taco truck for dinner, and taco truck all weekend.

When they're not eating tacos, her dad's manically working on the Gravioli pitch, and Cath's working on Carry On, Simon.

On Sunday night, when her dad takes her to meet her ride back to Lincoln, he drops the bombshell: He's been talking to her mom, Laura.

Laura, it seems, wants to see Cath and Wren; she wants to have a relationship with them after all these years.

Cath says she won't even think about it, and is angry with her dad for informing Wren via email instead of talking to them in person, together.

Except, of course, that Wren's not there, because partying is more important.

10.

Professor Piper wants her students to get started on their final project, a 10,000-word short story.

It isn't even Thanksgiving yet, but she doesn't want them to put it off until the last minute.

Cath's stressing aloud to Nick as they work in the library; writing just isn't as easy for her as it used to be.

They wrap things up at midnight, and Cath gets out her phone to call her room and tell Levi and Reagan she's headed back.

Surprise: Levi's waiting for her outside the library, ready to walk her home.

She tells him he doesn't have to, but he insists. (Just in case you're not getting it, Levi is the nicest guy on the planet.)

When Cath meets Wren and Courtney for lunch, Wren says nothing about the email her dad sent; she doesn't know Cath knows, or at least she's acting like she doesn't.

Cath waits through several more lunches to talk to Wren, but Courtney's always around, so finally Cath walks Wren to class and confronts her about the email on the way.

Wren says she's thinking about seeing their mom, and Cath can't believe it.

Cath asks Wren to let her know what she decides, and Wren says she's not going to talk to Cath about it if Cath's going to get upset.

Because being upset that your mom wants to waltz back into your life after abandoning you isn't a totally normal emotional reaction, or anything. Geez.

11.

Cath's sitting in her room (no way, really?) freaking out over what Professor Piper said to her after class.

She got an F on her unreliable narrator.

Fanfiction is unacceptable, it seems, since Professor Piper called it plagiarism.

Cath said she just borrowed the characters and the world, but wrote a new plot, but Professor Piper said the characters and world make the story. In other words, no borrowing, a.k.a. stealing.

Not only is Cath totally mortified, she can't get hold of Wren; every time she calls, it goes to voice mail.

What she and Wren would normally have done at a time like this is throw an Emergency Kanye Party, in which they blast Kanye West songs and dance around the room.

(Click here for your own Emergency Kanye Party break.)

It feels kind of pathetic to have an Emergency Kanye Party by herself, but Cath does it anyway, singing at the top of her lungs.

Levi shows up and starts dancing with her, and they both start laughing and rapping and generally being cute together.

Reagan arrives and says she's had a weird day and wants to go out. Levi says he'll go, but Cath says she's just going to write. (Do we even need to tell you this anymore?)

Cath checks her phone and sees that Wren texted her and says to come to Muggsy's, a bar near campus. It's an emergency.

Levi agrees to drive her and to catch up with Reagan later.

At the bar, they discover Wren is trashed (surprise), and a big guy is trapping her against the wall.

Cath pushes the guy's arm out of the way and asks Wren what the emergency was.

Turns out Wren was trying to text Courtney and texted Cath instead; the 911 was that the guy Courtney liked was there. So, you know, not an emergency at all.

An obnoxious frat guy starts hitting on Cath and Wren, being all gross about the fact that they're twins.

Levi tells him to stop being a jerk, and the guy who was caging Wren against the wall plows the frat guy in the chin.

He's actually a good guy. His name is Jandro, and he and Levi are friends, and Wren's into him.

Cath tries to get Wren to leave the bar, but Courtney shows up, and they decide to stay and drink more.

Cath leaves with Levi, feeling awful because she can't keep Wren safe; Levi suggests they go to a 24-hour diner and get some food.

While they eat, Cath tells Levi everything that happened with Professor Piper and the plagiarism accusation.

Levi says it's no big deal if Professor Piper isn't reporting her to the Judicial Board, but Cath can't expect her professor to be into gay Simon Snow fanfiction.

Writing might not be going so well at the moment, but Cath's love life is looking up.

12.

Cath's waiting for Fiction-Writing to start and reading fanfic on her phone, which feels like a transgressive thing to do in the English building.

This is going to be her first class with Professor Piper since the Big Plagiarism Talk a few days ago.

She and Wren have eaten lunch together a couple of times since the Muggsy's incident; both Wren and Courtney think Levi is cute.

Speaking of cute boys, Nick comes walking up, and he wants to know why Professor Piper wanted to talk to Cath after class last time.

Nick also got his worst grade of the semester on the last paper; Professor Piper said his writing was "overly slick" and "impenetrable." She's a tough cookie, this one is.

He and Cath agree that they'll meet to write that night, as usual.

That afternoon, Levi shows up at Cath's dorm room, despite the fact that Reagan isn't there.

After telling her that he only washes his hair once a month and rubbing his head all over her pillow because she refuses to smell his head, Levi asks Cath to read him some of her fanfiction.

Dream boy, obvs.

Cath reads him a section of Carry On, Simon in which Simon is gathering clues that Baz is a vampire.

Simon hasn't figured it out, but Levi does; he asks Cath to keep reading.

Just as Baz is about to dig into Simon's neck, Reagan comes walking through the door.

She and Levi are going to study for their plant physiology class at the diner.

Before they walk out of the room, Levi gives Cath his phone number and smiles back at her.

13.

What's that? Cath's starting to make friends? Can it be?

Okay, so she's not exactly going to parties, but she's talking to people in class and sitting at the same table to study. You've got to start somewhere.

Wren, on the other hand, remains a party animal.

Flashback: Their mom left on 9/11. Like, the 9/11.

Wren started acting out; Cath started acting in; they went to therapy together, but they both started to change anyway.

Back to the present, Levi invites Cath to a party.

Cath's like, no way, but Levi knows how to talk to a girl, so he asks her to read him some more fanfiction.

Cath reads him about a dozen pages of Simon and Baz, and Reagan walks in. She wants to know if he bought her Starbucks, but in fact, he brought Cath Starbucks.

Womp, womp.

Reagan and Levi leave to study Jacob Have I Loved for their young adult literature class before the party.

Do we even need to tell you Cath stays home to write?

14.

It's Thanksgiving break, and Mr. Avery arrives to pick up Cath, Wren, and Courtney, who they're giving a lift to her home in West Omaha.

In the car, Cath asks her dad about the Gravioli campaign. His advertising agency got it, but the client disliked all their pitches until the latest, silliest one: A bear comes out of hibernation, says "Grrr," and the "Grrr" becomes "Grrrrravioli."

Gravioli, as it happens, tastes like dog food.

Their grandma isn't coming over for Thanksgiving, because she's in Chicago with their aunt.

Laura, however, is coming over to pick Wren up, which Wren didn't tell Cath.

Their dad is surprised, but Wren says she knew Cath would just freak out, which she proceeds to do.

Mr. Avery tries to calm Cath down, but Cath's not having it—as far as she's concerned, Laura made her choice when she abandoned them.

Her dad cried for three hours when her mom called again. Cath thinks her mom is evil, and her dad kind of does too, but he supports Wren's decision to try to have a relationship with her.

On Thanksgiving Day, Wren goes to her mom's house and decides to stay the night; Cath and her dad eat dinner in front of the television.

15.

Back at school, Levi's standing outside the door of Cath's room, so she lets him in even though Reagan went out hours ago.

Levi's annoyed. He and Reagan have a test on The Outsiders tomorrow, and he hasn't read the book.

Cath asks him why he can't just read the book himself instead of asking Reagan to do his homework for him.

Long story short: Levi has focus issues, and though he doesn't say ADHD outright, it's totally what he's describing.

Cath tells him to muddle through the book, he tells her she doesn't understand, and he leaves, forgetting the copy of The Outsiders he brought with him.

Cath chases after him and asks him to come back.

The book is short, with lots of dialogue, so Cath picks it up and starts reading it aloud.

And keeps reading it aloud.

And then Levi lies down on her bed, and Cath snuggles against him, and she reads aloud all night.

And then, finally, before falling asleep, they kiss.

16.

And… Reagan walks in.

It's the next morning, and Levi's two hours late for work, so he bails as quickly as possible; Reagan, needless to say, is furious.

Cath starts crying and apologizes for kissing Reagan's boyfriend, and Reagan says Levi's not her boyfriend—they're just friends who used to be a couple.

She says she's going to go take a shower, and then she'll be over it.

When she comes back, surprisingly enough, she is. She also realizes Cath actually did read The Outsiders to him, and she feels badly about not helping him study like she promised.

Reagan says she knew Levi liked Cath, but didn't realize Cath liked him back.

Cath has already missed her morning classes, one of which is Fiction-Writing; she feels terrible and keeps apologizing to Reagan.

Reagan reminds Cath that Levi is not her boyfriend and asks if Cath wants her help with him.

She gives Cath the lowdown: Levi's really into her. He talks about her fanfiction constantly—well, when he's not talking about range management, that is.

Reagan says the reason they broke up is that she kept cheating on him; she is, she tells Cath, a better friend than girlfriend.

It's Wednesday, and Levi is working. He texts Cath from Starbucks to ask if she wants to come to the party he's having the next night.

Cath doesn't want to, of course, but Reagan makes her get dressed up, puts some makeup on her, and drags her.

They get to Levi's house, Cath walks into his kitchen, and there he is, kissing another girl. Hey now…

17.

Reagan proves her awesomeness by driving Cath back to the dorm and agreeing not to talk about Levi with Cath or Cath with Levi.

Levi calls Cath on Saturday morning, but she doesn't answer, so he calls Reagan, who says Cath is studying and she'll meet him downstairs to go wherever they're going.

Cath doesn't return Levi's texts, even the ones asking what happens next in her fanfiction and offering her delicacies from Starbucks.

In order to avoid Levi when he comes to her room, Cath starts hanging out at the library.

She tries to work on her 10,000-word short story for Fiction-Writing, but she can't seem to get anywhere, so she works on Carry On, Simon instead.

Ignoring Levi works for a week, but then Cath comes home one day to find him sitting on Reagan's bed while Reagan does homework.

She hadn't expected him to be there; she thought Reagan had to work that night.

Cath pretends to get something she needs out of her desk and heads for the library to write with Nick.

Levi offers to meet her later to walk her back to the dorm, but Cath says Nick will do it.

At the library, she works on Carry On, Simon until Nick arrives. They're collaborating on a story that isn't for class—a love story, no less—just because they like to write together.

Cath notices Nick has written five pages of the story in their shared notebook since the last time they met, without consulting her.

Rather than telling him that's not cool, though, Cath takes the notebook and rewrites his dialogue.

There's not time for her to write a page of her own, because she spends so much time editing his.

Nick doesn't walk her home. She enters 911 on the keypad and walks herself home, keeping her finger over the call button just in case.

Voice mail transcripts: Cath leaves a message for her dad, telling him she's thinking of coming home that weekend.

Her dad calls back and leaves a message saying he'll be at the Gravioli shoot in Tulsa that weekend.

Cath, therefore, holes up in the library—hey, at least it's better than holing up in her room, right?

She's wearing a Keep Calm and Carry On tee-shirt she got from Etsy, with a picture of Simon and Baz, and a girl comes up to her to ask if she reads Carry On, Simon.

The girl proceeds to fangirl over the fangirl—that is, to tell Cath how much she loves Magicath, without having any idea she's actually talking to her.

Cath doesn't tell her. She just talks Simon and Baz with a kindred spirit and keeps her identity a secret.

More voice mail transcripts: Cath leaves messages. Her dad leaves one at 3:00AM to say he's back from Tulsa, and not to worry, because not worrying is like flying. Cath leaves one and says she worries even more when he calls at 3:00AM and says stuff like that.

Back in Fiction-Writing class, it's ten days until the short stories are due. Professor Piper reminds the students that the stories are half their final grade, and they won't get into her advanced class next session unless they get at least a B.

That night, Cath cries into her pillow, which no longer smells like Levi's hair.

18.

Nick and Cath are in the library. It's a week before Christmas break, and neither of them have started their Fiction-Writing stories yet. Oops.

Well, Nick sort of has—he tells Cath he thinks he's going to turn in the extracurricular story they've been writing.

Cath, of course, is like, whoa, hold up, cheater.

Nick tells Cath she's a great editor with tons of potential (jerk), but it's his story, not hers (double jerk).

Cath agrees to meet him again to edit their stories before they turn them in, but she doesn't mean it. She peaces out of the library and takes off running.

On Wednesday evening, after taking her biology final, she locks herself in her room, shuts off the Internet, and vows not to move until she writes her Fiction-Writing story.

Instead, she sits there stewing about Nick, which is at least a nice change of pace from stewing about Levi.

Then she turns to one of the best writing procrastination techniques ever—taking a nap. (Have you guys tried this? We highly recommend it.)

When she wakes up, it's late, and her phone is ringing.

It's Kelly, the creative director at her dad's office, who's also his old friend; he's responsible for Mr. Avery still having a job.

Turns out Cath's dad's not doing so well. In fact, he's at St. Richard's Hospital in Omaha, having a manic episode. Kelly dragged him there after realizing he hadn't left the office in several days.

Cath calls Wren to say they should head home to be with him, even though Kelly told her they should stay at school and finish their finals.

Wren says she's staying, but if Cath really needs a ride, she's sure Laura would give her one.

Cath, of course, says no, and curses herself for not having more friends with cars.

And then she calls Levi.

He's at Starbucks, but he answers, even though he's not supposed to.

Cath asks him if he can drive her to Omaha that night after he gets off work.

He tells her he'll leave work and be there in fifteen minutes. That's right, Levi—fall into line.

19.

On the drive, Cath tells Levi her dad's in the hospital, but she doesn't tell him why, and he doesn't ask.

Instead, he listens to a recorded range management lecture, like he does. He has a final the next day.

She tells Levi he can just drop her off at St. Richard's, but he comes inside and waits in the lobby.

The guy at the desk tells Cath her dad isn't authorized for visitors.

Cath tells Levi he can go ahead and leave, since all she can do is wait to talk to a doctor or nurse, but he tells her he's going to wait with her.

After schmoozing an orderly a bit, like he also does, Levi goes off to find them sandwiches and coffee.

Finally, while eating, they have The Conversation. Levi wants to know why Cath's been blowing him off.

Cath says she went to his party and saw what happened.

He tells her it was just a kiss, and she asks which kiss he means—hers, or the other girl's.

He says both. Wrong answer, Levi.

A nurse calls her back to see her dad, and Cath tells Levi to leave. This time, he does.

Cath takes a cab to her dad's office to pick up his car, which is full of fast-food wrappers and crumpled, discarded advertising ideas.

At home, Cath texts Wren to tell her their dad is tranquilized and sleeping—like Wren suspected he would be—and that there's no need for Wren to come home, since Cath's got it covered.

So covered, in fact, that she does her dad's laundry and dishes.

The next day, she takes her laptop to St. Richard's to work on her story for Fiction-Writing.

Wren texts to ask if Cath will be there the following day for their psych final; they're in the same class.

Cath says no; Wren says that's not okay; Cath says it's not okay to leave their dad alone. Good times.

Mr. Avery finally wakes up at noon and eats some delicious hospital food. He's mad he's there, and Cath turns on the television and they watch Gilmore Girls together.

20.

That Saturday, her dad comes home from the hospital, and Wren comes home from school.

Wren talks a lot about school, but doesn't say anything about their dad until she asks if they should call and give Grandma the deets.

Cath says no, thinking they should give him a couple of days and see how he does.

Wren wants to go out drinking with all their high school friends, but Cath says—wait for it—no.

Mr. Avery goes back to work after a week, and starts exercising the week after that; when he starts exercising, Cath knows he's off his meds and trying to control the mania in another way.

Wren comes home from a party one morning (as in, the morning after) and asks Cath to make her an omelet, because somehow she can eat eggs with a hangover.

The next day is Christmas Eve, and Wren asks Cath if she thinks they should call Grandma yet; Cath says Christmas Eve is when you're supposed to call your grandma.

She asks Wren what she should make for Christmas Eve dinner, and Wren says she won't be there—she's going to Laura's.

A giant fight ensues. Wren can't believe Cath's making her go alone; Cath can't believe Wren's going.

On Christmas Eve, Cath and Wren watch Simon Snow movies with their dad, eating popcorn, tamales, and lasagna made with spaghetti noodles.

Laura texts Wren that evening from outside the house. No coming to the door, obvs.

Wren leaves, Cath and her dad make bipolar jokes, and Cath contemplates how she'll never have Levi.

On Christmas day, they open presents with their dad: gloves from Cath to Wren, (non-Simon Snow) tee-shirts from Wren to Cath, and gift cards from their dad and grandma.

Last but not least, Cath opens a small silver box with a gift tag that says Cather. It's from Laura, of course.

It's a necklace with Cath's birthstone; Wren's wearing the matching one.

Cath drops the box and runs to her room.

Cath remembers how everyone always told Laura she was too young to have kids, and Laura said she felt too young.

Wren and Cath decided early on that if their parents split up, they'd stay with their dad—he liked them more, and he needed them more.

Of course, Laura bailed on all of them, so it wasn't a choice in the end.

Cath sits in her room and cries; she is tired of crying.

21.

Christmas break is almost over, and Cath's still worrying about her dad, who's supposed to drive her and Wren back to school in three days.

It's time to have The Talk: she's decided not to go back to UNL. She's going to transfer to UNO and live at home.

Her dad says no way; she'll lose her scholarships, so she should at least stick out the year.

He tells her Grandma's going to check on him a few times a week, and that if things get bad again, he might stay with her for a while.

Cath's not convinced, but their conversation is interrupted when Wren comes home. Cath goes upstairs to her room.

That night, Wren says their dad told her Cath wasn't going back. Cath has nothing to say; she goes and sleeps on the couch.

The next morning, her dad tells her he could never forgive himself if Cath gave up her scholarships to take care of him.

She's writing when Wren comes up to their room to start packing.

The phone rings. It's Reagan, whose mom has offered to give them a couch, and she wants to know if Cath wants it.

Cath says no—a couch won't fit in a dorm room.

Reagan apologizes for encouraging Cath with Levi and says she's never encouraging anyone about anything again.

Cath and her dad, as usual, hit up the taco truck for dinner. Mmm… tacos.

22.

It's the beginning of the spring semester, 2012, and Cath's back at school.

Her dad talked her into finishing out the year, but that's all she's committed to.

She finally tells Reagan, whose mom foisted an Eiffel Tower lamp on them, that her own mom left her when she was eight.

She and Reagan go to the dining hall for dinner, where Reagan snarks on people wearing Ugg boots, though Cath says she finds the continued embrace of Uggs by Nebraska college students kind of charming.

23.

Cath gets her grades for the semester and sees that Professor Piper gave her an incomplete.

This surprises her, since she never turned in her story and was expecting a C or D.

Cath goes back to Andrews Hall, the English building, for the third time since she got the incomplete.

The first two times, she walked in and walked out; this time, though, she at least uses the bathroom.

She decides she'll try walking past the main office; Professor Piper's in the office across the hall, and she calls out to Cath.

Cath goes into her office, where Professor Piper asks her what happened.

Cath says her dad was in the hospital, and that she never started the story, because fanfiction is what she really wants to write.

She tells Professor Piper she's thinking of changing her major.

Professor Piper won't hear of it, and she gives Cath a pep talk, telling her she's meant to be a writer.

No dice, Cath says. She doesn't care about writing her own stuff; she just cares about writing Simon Snow. She's not into creating something from nothing.

Professor Piper tells her creating something from nothing is what writing's all about, but Cath's still not buying it.

Professor Piper changes the subject. She's got a question: Did Cath help Nick with his story?

Cath admits it, and Professor Piper says she could tell—Nick's in her advanced class, and his writing has taken a nosedive now that Cath's not helping.

She offers to let Cath finish her story as an independent study and give her a grade at the end of the semester.

Sidebar: conversation with Dad. He's worried about Cath, he's worried about Wren, they're worried about him. So everything is normal.

Another of Cath's worries: Levi. She doesn't expect to see him again, since Reagan's stopped letting him come to their room, and all his classes are on East Campus, while hers are on Central Campus.

Surprise: He shows up outside her door, waiting for her.

He wants to tell her the kiss with the other girl was just a kiss, but the kiss with her was more.

He wants that kiss to be the start of something.

Cath lets him into her room.

24.

They have an awkward conversation in which Cath agrees to try again.

He puts her laptop in her lap and asks her to read him some fanfiction; he remembers exactly where they left off six weeks ago.

There's a long Simon Snow interlude, then Cath asks about Reagan. How long did they date? Did he love her?

He says three years, and yes.

However, she cheated, and they got to college and realized there were more people to date than the eleven in their high school class.

Cath details all the stuff they don't have in common, and Levi says none of that stuff matters.

She tells him she doesn't trust anyone, and he says that's crazy.

Exactly, says Cath—she's crazy, just like her dad.

He says it doesn't matter if she's crazy, and asks her out for the following night. She says yes, because she may be crazy, but she's not stupid.

Cath stays up late writing fanfiction. She asks Reagan if it's okay if she goes out with Levi.

Reagan says yes, but it's weird, and Cath lucked out getting with Levi, because Levi usually goes for girls who are giant pains.

25.

When Cath wakes up the next morning, Reagan's sitting at her desk, watching her sleep.

Which is weird, but understandable since Reagan wants to lay down some ground rules about this Levi thing.

One: No talking about sex.

Two: No being lovey-dovey in front of her.

Three: No talking about their relationship.

Four: No being jealous that Levi is her friend (and that she lost her virginity to him).

Cath agrees, and they go have breakfast together.

That night, after Reagan leaves for work, Cath lays out some possible outfits for The Date. She's not exactly sure how to dress, since her last date with Abel was to a math contest.

At dinner that night, Reagan convinces Cath to wear her hair down, and she even quotes a Simon Snow book as encouragement.

For their date, Levi takes Cath on a tour of East Campus, a.k.a. Range Management Headquarters.

Cath asks Levi why he's always so nice to everyone and always smiling at people. Specifically, she wants to know how, if he treats everyone like they're special, a person knows when they're really special.

Levi asks how she feels when he smiles at her. She says she feels like an idiot, but she's kind of enjoying feeling like an idiot.

He drops her off at her room afterward and is a perfect gentleman—no kissing, no coming in.

However, he does start coming by to see her every day, and they begin hanging out all the time.

Which means she falls behind on Carry On, Simon. She has less time to write love scenes between Simon and Baz when she's having love scenes in real life.

In the meantime, Levi jokes about someday getting her up to his room in the house where he lives with five roommates.

Cath's a little afraid of what she might do if she were alone with him in his room.

She tells him she's been going to see her dad more this semester, and he offers to drive her next time. Levi wants to meet Mr. Avery.

They tell each other they really like each other, which, you know, makes us go aw.

26.

Cath's back in Professor Piper's office, where she's going to tell her professor once and for all that she just can't write the story.

However, that's not what she ends up saying; instead she ends up thanking Professor Piper for the second chance.

Professor Piper asks Cath if she knows what she wants to write about, and Cath says she can't come up with anything.

Professor Piper says Cath doesn't have to create her own worlds, like Gemma T. Leslie. Instead, she suggests that Cath write about a place she already knows.

They decide to meet again in a few weeks, when Cath's started writing something.

Back in Cath's room, Levi insists on carrying her laundry basket to his truck for her; they're about to drive to Omaha, where he'll meet her dad.

Cath insists on carrying it herself, and they have a discussion about feminism versus chivalry. Ultimately, Levi surrenders and lets Cath carry her own laundry.

On the drive home, Cath considers how someday she's going to kiss Levi's jawline, which she finds exceptionally foxy.

She's still bumming about the Professor Piper story, and Levi asks her what's wrong, so she spills it.

It's snowing, which turns into blizzarding, and they have to slow down.

Levi tells Cath he thinks she has the story inside her—after all, she can write for a million billion hours when it comes to Simon and Baz.

He also tells her she needs to write it to keep up her GPA and keep her scholarship.

She kisses his fingers and his cheek, which is a pretty bold move for our Cath.

27.

Having survived the blizzard and reached Omaha, Levi and Cath have a moment of hugging and cuteness before going inside the house.

When they walk into the living room, her dad's sitting at the coffee table chewing on a Sharpie, surrounded by papers in buckets, with papers taped to the curtains and walls.

He's working on a pitch for the latest advertising account, for a product called Frankenbeans.

Cath awkwardly introduces him to Levi, who apologizes to Mr. Avery for driving Cath home through a blizzard.

Mr. Avery, however, hadn't even realized it was snowing.

Levi says he'd better be heading back to Lincoln, and Cath says he's nuts, so though Levi's all awkward and nervous about spending the night, Cath talks him into it.

Cath opens the fridge to make some dinner, and there's actual food in there, as opposed to crusty condiment bottles.

Cath makes some poached eggs and toast, and explains her dad's job to Levi.

When Levi goes upstairs with Cath to her room, Cath realizes how immature it looks, with all the Simon Snow posters and Sanrio stuff.

Levi, on the other hand, thinks it's ridiculously adorable.

They sit in her room and talk about their families. Levi's parents are religious and freaked out when Reagan's sister got pregnant in high school, hoping it didn't run in families.

Cath spills the beans about her mom, an artist who never wanted kids but ended up getting pregnant, which is how she ended up married to Cath's dad.

Levi asks if Cath misses her mom, and Cath says no, she actually misses Wren.

They lighten up the conversation a bit and play a Simon Snow board game.

Cath sleeps upstairs; Levi sleeps on the couch.

On Saturday morning, Levi has to get back to Lincoln to work a shift at Starbucks.

Cath works on Carry On, Simon all weekend.

On Sunday, Levi drives back to Omaha to pick Cath up so her dad doesn't have to drive her, and because he's the sweetest boyfriend pretty much ever.

28.

Back at school, Levi says he's going home—which is a small town called Arnold—for a few days for his sister's birthday party.

Cath says that's great, because she's way behind on the fanfic.

(We won't even talk about that story for Professor Piper.)

In the meantime, Cath still hasn't kissed Levi again since they started dating. We know, right?

Levi takes off, and a few hours later, Cath's writing Carry On when Reagan comes in from her shift at Olive Garden.

Reagan changes clothes and leaves for the night.

Cath, having seen Reagan's purple bra, thinks about the fact that Reagan and Levi had sex, but reminds herself of the no-jealousy rule.

Cath's phone rings. It's Wren's number. She and Wren haven't talked or even texted since Christmas break.

But wait… it's not Wren on the phone. It's Laura.

Wren is in the hospital with alcohol poisoning, Laura's there, and her dad's flying back from the Gravioli shoot in Tulsa.

Cath calls Reagan, who comes back and gives her a ride to the hospital.

It's confrontation time. Needless to say, things are cold between Cath and Laura, and Laura's not helping out by constantly texting her new husband.

Before Cath's dad arrives, Laura says she should probably get going, even though she hasn't seen Wren.

When the doctor calls them back, Laura bails.

Not before Cath yells at her, obviously. You go, Cath.

29.

Cath goes with the nurse to see Wren.

Cath asks Wren if she's still drunk, and Wren says she is, a little. She doesn't remember what happened.

Wren starts crying; Cath hugs her; they fall asleep together.

Mr. Avery arrives and is allowed to take Wren home to Omaha. Cath, of course, goes too.

Before they leave the hospital, Jandro—the guy who punched out the jerk at Muggsy's who was messing with Cath and Wren—shows up.

Turns out he's Wren's boyfriend.

Also there: Levi. He drove back after his shift at Starbucks.

Cath drives Wren and her dad through McDonald's on the way home so they can get some food.

Once home, Cath curls up next to Wren in bed, then goes downstairs to see her dad, who's already crashed.

30.

The next morning, Mr. Avery lays down the law: Wren's moving to Omaha, whether she likes it or not.

Wren freaks and says that everybody drinks, but her dad reminds her that Cath doesn't, and also tells her Cath has a "very polite" boyfriend.

Wren asks whom Cath's dating.

Cath says Levi.

Their dad says that's not what they're talking about, lays down a little more of the law, goes into his room, and slams the door.

The next morning, Cath writes—guess what?—fanfiction. Wren's been crying on the phone in the closet, talking to Jandro.

When she comes out of the closet, Wren starts reading over Cath's shoulder.

Cath tells Wren she thinks the Mage is going to kill Baz, and Wren says that can't happen. She takes the laptop away from Cath to write a little Simon Snow intervention.

Wrenegade is back, at least momentarily.

The next morning, over a disgusting bowl of new Cheese Gravioli, their dad delivers the verdict, a.k.a. compromise: Wren can go back to Lincoln, but she has to come home every weekend.

They decide Gravioli is inedible, which we knew all along.

31.

Back in Lincoln, Alejandro's waiting for them. All is well between him and Wren.

Levi gets back from Arnold late that night and asks if he can stop by.

Cath says Reagan's there, and Levi says they can sit in his truck and talk, but when Cath tells him it's freezing out, he suggests they go to his house.

Of course Cath's nervous, but Levi says he'll keep his hands off her until she puts her hands on him.

Cath puts on all her sweaters and goes to his house at last, where he asks her to read him some fanfic, and she does.

And then—you knew it was coming—Cath finally kisses him, and a serious make-out occurs.

At last.

32.

Wren and Cath have made up and become close again, while Cath and Levi are closer than ever.

Laura continues to be lame, but we knew that.

The eighth Simon Snow book comes out in six weeks, and Cath has to finish her version before then. She's a little stressed about it.

Hanging out in Wren's room, which they do now, Cath and Wren debate killing off Baz.

Wren's still against it, but Cath says someone has to kill him since he's a vampire and all.

Courtney says she thinks Baz will die in the last movie; Cath says the book has to come out first.

Fun fact about Courtney: She's not an intellectual giant.

But more important than Simon and Baz, at least to Wren, is finding out whether Cath's in love with Levi.

Well, duh.

Wren asks if Cath's slept with him; Cath asks if Wren's slept with Jandro.

Question one: no. Question two: yes.

Wren asks how Cath can write about Simon and Baz's bodies so well when she's never actually seen a naked boy.

Cath says she's almost ready to see one, but she's nervous; Wren tells her that the first time you have sex, "you only get graded on attendance."

Then Wren says she'll beta-read the rest of Carry On, Simon, as long as Cath promises not to kill Baz.

33.

Professor Piper asks if Cath's started her story, so Cath… lies and says yes.

So Professor Piper asks if she can read what Cath's written so far, and Cath, of course, says not yet.

When Professor Piper asks Cath what she's going to write about, Cath says her mom.

Didn't see that coming, huh?

Later, Levi tells Cath he bombed a test, and Cath worries that it's because he's not studying with Reagan anymore.

Cath says she's willing to help him study, and he tells her she has enough homework of her own, plus a Simon Snow book to finish.

They get all lovey-dovey and make out again. This time, shirts come off.

34.

Cath and Wren are working on Carry On, Simon together, but when they get to her room to write, they spot a boy waiting in the hallway.

Nope, not Levi—Nick.

Reagan comes out of the room. They don't know what happened with Nick, but they know he's about to mess with Cath in some way.

He wants to talk to her alone, but Reagan and Wren say he can talk in front of them.

The story they wrote together has been accepted to the university's library journal, in Nick's name.

It's an honor for an undergraduate, he says, but Professor Piper knows they wrote it together, and she wants him to share credit with Cath.

Levi shows up.

Cath tells Nick she's not comfortable with that idea.

Nick says he can't publish it if she doesn't agree.

Cath says no.

Nick says he can't lose this—he already lost his teaching assistantship because of her.

Cath still says no.

Nick walks away, obviously angry.

Wren's going to hang out with Jandro at his frat house that night, and she tells Levi he's giving her a ride. He's also stopping to get her a white chocolate mocha from Starbucks.

Levi agrees. He even opens the door of the truck for Wren when they get there.

Cath and Levi go to Levi's house, where Cath makes him one of her signature omelets.

He tells her he loves her; she tells him she loves him; she burns the omelet and has to make him another one.

35.

The release date of the eighth Simon Snow book is fast approaching, and Cath, Wren, and Levi are going to Omaha for the midnight release party at a bookstore called Bookworm.

Cath has to finish the last chapter of her version first, of course.

As she works on it in Levi's room, he asks if they're going in costume.

Cath says she and Wren haven't done costumes since junior high, and Levi's bummed—he totally wanted a costume.

They pause for a brief make-out session.

Walking to the dorms the next day through puddles of melted snow, Wren asks Cath if she wants to be roommates next year.

Cath's already promised to live with Reagan, and Wren's bummed; Courtney's moving into a sorority house.

Cath convinces Wren to live on their floor, and Wren says she will—after all, it's closer to Central Campus.

36.

Levi asks Cath if she's been working on her story for Professor Piper, and Cath says no—she's been working nonstop on Carry On, Simon.

She's only got nine days to finish.

Levi's frustrated. She needs to do her story to keep her scholarship.

Cath says he doesn't understand how much it means to her to finish Carry On; she's been working on it for two years.

Levi's right, though, of course. She's got nine days before the eighth Simon Snow book comes out, but only twelve days to finish her story for Professor Piper.

Annoyed, Levi says he'll see her in nine days.

Cath cries in her room; she knows Levi is more important than Simon and Baz.

And when she opens the door to go get a glass of water, Levi's in the hallway.

They apologize to each other, and Levi says she has to finish Carry On.

However, he wants to be there for her for the next two weeks, after which her freshman year is over.

37.

Cath wakes up at Levi's house. He has to go to work, but she wants to stay there and write.

However, she's not writing Carry On, Simon—nope, she's finally working on her story for Professor Piper.

Not only is it about her mom, it's about Wren. She's writing what she knows, but of course she's made them fictional characters—this is Fiction-Writing, after all.

Next scene: bookstore. Simon Snow release party. Reagan's there with Cath, Wren, and Levi, who's wearing Cath's Carry On tee-shirt, which she finds superhot.

After they buy the book, Cath and Wren start crying.

Reagan thinks they're huge dorks.

Wren tells Cath the story will never be over—after all, "It's Simon."

38.

It's Cath's last Friday night in Pound Hall.

Levi's in her room, eating the last of the peanut butter Cath brought at the beginning of the year.

Cath has finally turned in the story to Professor Piper, and she reads the end of Carry On, Simon to Levi.

She didn't kill Baz after all.

The book ends with an excerpt from Cath's Fiction-Writing story, which is called Left, and is the winner of the Underclassmen Prize in the Fall 2012 edition of the Prairie Schooner.

http://www.shmoop.com/fangirl/summary.html

PLOT

Cath, the protagonist, is going to college. She loves Simon Snow, a book series written by fictional author Gemma T. Leslie. Although Cath has had her twin sister, Wren, by her side for her entire life, when it is time to hand in college room assignment forms, Wren decides to break out of the familiar shell and share a room with someone other than her sister for the first time. She is placed with a girl named Courtney, and Cath is paired with Reagan, a wild, rough kind of girl. Reagan seems to be going out with a boy named Levi who often hangs out in their room, so Cath assumes that he is Reagan's boyfriend.

Missing her exams, Cath decides to stay in Omaha to take care of her father rather than going back to school to make up for the missed work. Nick, her writing partner, has decided to hand in the "anti-love" story that Cath had helped him work on, giving himself all the credit for it. She feels betrayed, and shuns him, avoiding the library where he works.

Finally having enough of school, Cath begs her dad to let her stay with him in Omaha since she is unhappy at college and she is worried that her dad needs someone to stay with him so that he stays healthy. Cath's father tells her that she deserves to have a life and an education and refuses to let her quit. Eventually, she decides that if she is unhappy after the next semester, she will come back home and quit school. Also at this time, Wren decides to spend her time with their mother and Cath gets angry at her for betraying their father and herself. After an argument between the girls, they stop talking to each other.

Later, after seeing the people living on their floor slowly trickling out, Reagan asks Cath to live with her again in their same room and Cath gladly agrees. Cath ends up deciding to write about her relationship with her sister Wren. She hands it in and ends up winning the award that Nick almost did. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fangirl_(novel)

OPIONON

I really, really, really liked the book. I loved every character. I liked the character of Cath the most. I love these kinds of stories, so this book was perfect to me. I heard a lot of good things about it, so I had high expectations, which totally came true.

What I didn’t like that much, was the whole Simon Snow (an Baz) fanfiction. It was just a parody of Harry Potter, but worse. I skipped a lot of the quotes, which were on the end of every chapter, because I didn’t find them interesting. I was way more interested in the story of Cath. Her character was really real, with her anxiety and stuff. It’s a thing you don’t read so often about in these books. That’s why it’s a different book than other books about this subject I’ve read. I really saw the story happening before my eyes.

“Best scene in story:

There's a scene where Wren and Cather are arguing about whether they should start talking to their mom, and the way they talk to each other is very accurate to actual sibling dynamics. They both know exactly how to push the other's buttons, but even though they say some pretty cruel things to each other, it's obvious that it comes out of concern and love rather than actually wanting to hurt each other. It's just really accurate to how real life arguments tend to go.

Opinion about the main character:

Cath is a fairly accurate representation of a nerd girl- and her antisocial nature is presented as being somewhat debilitating rather than just the sort of cutesy awkwardness that's usually found in YA fiction. That being said, this lack of social skills can get frustrating at times for the reader. There's a part, for instance, where she turns in a piece of fan fiction for a creative writing project, and the reader just has to wonder who would ever think that that was a good idea? Even so, the reader desperately wants her to be happy, and it's easy to associate with her. Overall, she's easy enough to read about, and even if she isn't the best female character ever written, you do like her and want her to succeed.” 

I agree with this review, but I didn’t find her lack of social skills frustrating, rather interesting because she’s different from all the characters I’ve read before.

“Rainbow Rowell’s Fangirl is a cute and poignant read for fangirls and fanboys of all ages. Fans will recognize popular fanartist Ginger Haze’s fabulous illustration on the cover. What’s more, they’ll recognize themselves in the pages—for better or worse.” 

I definitely recognized myself in some parts of Cath’s personality, sometimes I can get super obsessed sometimes with certain series of people. The Hunger Games, Frozen and Jennifer Lawrence for example. I even started to write a fanfiction about Jennifer Lawrence and Josh Hutcherson at some point, where they were filming the Hunger Games and fell in love with each other (which I still hope will happen). But I’m not so active as Cath is about fanfictions. I hardly ever read them and I stopped writing after about three pages, because I forgot about it.

I definitely recognized myself in some parts of Cath’s personality, sometimes I can get super obsessed sometimes with certain series of people. The Hunger Games, Frozen and Jennifer Lawrence for example. I even started to write a fanfiction about Jennifer Lawrence and Josh Hutcherson at some point, where they were filming the Hunger Games and fell in love with each other (which I still hope will happen). But I’m not so active as Cath is about fanfictions. I hardly ever read them and I stopped writing after about three pages, because I forgot about it.

But I really liked the book, and I’ve even suggested it to some of my friends. It was a thick book, but I couldn’t stop reading, so it was totally worth it.