Austin Santos
12-9-13
Period 1
Perfect Chemistry
Simone Elkeles
368 Pages
Young Adult I chose to read the book Perfect Chemistry by Simone Elkeles for my first semester book report. I chose this book because it was recommended to me by a friend who said that the book was very life like. The book takes place in Fairfield High School in the city of Chicago, Illinois. In the story Perfect Chemistry, the two main characters are Alex Fuentes and Brittany Ellis. Brittany is your everyday typical white girl she is very beautiful and also one of the most popular girls at school. She is the captain of the pom-pom squad, gets good grades, and dates the most popular guys at school. Alex on the other hand is a typical Mexican bad boy who is always getting into fights. He becomes a member of the Latino Blood Gang to protect his family after his father was killed during a bad drug deal. But what no one knows is that behind his bad boy attitude he is a very intelligent teenager. But later on in the story the two characters must begin to look beneath the surface to get to know each other. In the beginning of the story, the two characters are introduced and you learn that both Alex and Brittany absolutely hate each other. The worst part for both of them is that they end up being permanently chosen to be partners in their chemistry class. Alex’s friends begin to tell him how Brittany is good looking and that he should go for her. So, one of his friends makes a bet with him that if he could hook up with Brittany by the end of the year he would get to keep his friend’s car. Towards the middle of the story, Alex starts to find it hard to take advantage of Brittany because he begins to fall for her. He believes though that she will never give him a chance. One day when Brittany is upset and breaks up with her boyfriend at a party she runs into Alex at the beach. Where she ends up getting drunk and has to stay with Alex’s friend Isabel. As the two begin to become closer they start to let each other into one another’s worlds. Brittany ends up meeting Alex’s family and learns that Alex is the provider in the family and that he isn’t the bad guy that everyone thinks he is. Alex then finds out that Brittany’s life isn’t perfect like he thought it was. Her mom is very judgmental of her, her father comes in and out of her life, and her sister is battling cerebral palsy.
In the end of the story, Brittany tells Alex that she does not like that he is the Latino Blood Gang, and when the two become official Alex wants to leave the gang for her but also his family. He knew if he got out of the gang he would have to be jumped and if he lived he would be free. Alex ends up being hospitalized and almost dies, but it was well worth it because Brittany never has to worry about her boyfriend getting into trouble again.
After Alex and Brittany are paired up to become permanent lab partners, they must learn to talk to each other and more importantly get along with one another. The protagonist in the story is battling another character (Brittany) in the story. The conflict is resolved towards the middle of the story, when they learn they have a mutual friend. They begin to get to know each other and end up falling for one another.
“How am I going to explain to my mother I have to partner with Alex Fuentes? Oh, god, I hope she doesn’t blame me somehow for screwing this up. I glance at my boyfriend,