Goodbye Stranger

Emily, or “Em,” is part of Bridge’s trio of friends who decides in elementary school to be a “set” instead of a group and swear an oath over a Twinkie to never fight. At the start of seventh grade, Em’s physical appearance changes, and people, even adults, cannot help but notice her maturing body. Her new physique allows her to excel on the soccer field, but it also draws attention from her classmates, including an eighth grader named Patrick. As Patrick pursues a relationship with Em via text message, Em feels ready to embrace the attention. Ignoring the counsel from her friends to wait, Em sends a photo of herself in a bra to Patrick, and when someone makes the photo public, Em goes from a rising soccer star to a social pariah almost overnight. Em endures bullying both online and in person at school, but her friends rally around her to help her regain her self-confidence.

Through Em’s character, the author portrays a young woman contending with how society views her physical body as a reflection of her moral character. Before the incident, Em sees herself as a strong athlete and sexually attractive to Patrick. She embraces that new identity and chooses to act on it. The publicizing of her photo (which was meant to be private) forces her to experience how others see her differently. School administrators police Em’s body by forcing her to wear a sweatshirt and removing her from the talent show. Shamed by her peers and adults for loving her body, Em feels lost and confused. With her mother’s wisdom and her friends’ support, slowly Em regains her confidence: “Now they know […] that I still like myself. And they can watch me doing it all they want” (271). After Em makes a surprise performance at the talent show, she finds her voice again, literally and metaphorically, and helps open Bridge’s eyes to the true meaning of friendship.

Tab, who was with Bridge the day of her accident, is an eccentric and outspoken member of the friend group whose growing interest in social justice and disdain for the patriarchy provides a running commentary on every interaction the girls have. Heavily influenced by her favorite teacher and sponsor of the Human Rights Club, Ms. Berman (known as “the Berperson”), instead of entangling herself in the school’s dramas, Tab devotes her energy to recycling projects, exposing gender inequalities, and fighting sexism. Tab speaks excellent French and becomes Bridge’s unofficial tutor when she struggles to learn the language. Bridge loves the energy in Tab’s home and enjoys spending time around her older sister, Celeste, who appears to have it all, a perfectly proportioned body, hair, makeup knowledge, and confidence in herself. However, the more time Bridge spends at Tab’s house, the more she sees cracks in Celeste’s façade. Ultimately, the reader learns that Tab’s older sister is the forlorn narrator of the Valentine’s Day chapters, and that character’s life is far from perfect.

In an honest effort to avenge her friend’s reputation, Tab resorts to the same cyberbullying tactics her enemies use and ends up making Em’s plight worse. By the end of the novel, Tab has learned the danger of impulsive decision-making and that positive change is not always precipitated by radical action but by solidarity and steadfast loyalty to others. Her trademark phrase “Let’s put a pin in this” (98) becomes a motif in the narrative as the friends learn that slowing down, taking time to think, and returning to things later can be a valuable skill in making good choices.

Quirky and introverted, Sherm is a boy Bridge meets in tech crew who becomes her close friend. Sherm struggles to find his place in seventh grade, much like Bridge. Inspired by his devoted relationship to his grandfather Nonno Gio, Sherm is fascinated with the Apollo 11 mission and prefers to look at the sky rather than participate in pranks and other antics. Sherm and Bridge first find each other in the strange silence of an intruder drill and later bond over their newfound interest in tech crew. Despite his easygoing exterior, Sherm harbors a painful secret: His beloved grandfather, Nonno Gio, deserted his family with no explanation and started a new life with a new wife in New Jersey. Sherm writes letters to his grandfather but never sends them, and Stead uses the first-person narrative voice of the letters to provide a sense of interiority to Sherm’s character. Through Sherm’s heartfelt and sometimes painful words to Nonno, the reader sees inside the mind of an adolescent boy who has lost his emotional anchor and feels lonely. When Sherm and Bridge meet, Sherm finds a confidante with whom he can be himself and share his vulnerabilities.

The photo scandal presents a moral conundrum for Sherm as he is torn between doing what he knows is right and potentially ruining his friendship with Bridge. His choice to stop the spread of the photo reveals his maturity, and once Bridge understands his motivations, it endears her to him even more. As their relationship grows, Bridge feels like Sherm is more than a friend, but she lacks the clarity to name what she feels. Sherm teaches Bridge that love is not an either-or but instead a spectrum. Bridge realizes her definition of love, “[…] when you like someone so much that you can’t just call it ‘like,’ so you have to call it ‘love’” (263) perfectly fits her relationship with Sherm.