If Only Chapter 13 Summary

Seeing Orange

  • There's a boy at school named Alex Doherty, and Corinna has a crush on him. They both play in the band (he plays drums and she plays flute), plus they have math class together.
  • They've never really talked much; she's just crushing from afar.
  • Corinna wonders if Alex even knows she exists—and if he does, does he think of her as "the girl whose mother died"?
  • Joci calls Corinna that night to talk about their hard English essay. She says she asked her mom for help, but her mom "got too involved" and they fought.
  • Then Joci asks why Corinna's always hanging out with Clare these days.
  • Corinna says Clare understands what it's like to lose a parent, and Joci asks if Corinna only wants to hang out with kids whose parents died.
  • But wait, there's more: Joci says that if her mom died, she'd kill herself.
  • Corinna wonders if their friendship will survive. Which seems like a reasonable thing to wonder right about now.