Sarah+C.

That was Then, This is Now 1. Who are Bryon and Mark? > Bryon and Mark are two teenage best friends that consider themselves "brothers" because Mark lives with Bryon and his mom. The boys are very different looking; Mark has golden hair and eyes with a tense body whereas Bryon is big and husky with dark hair and eyes. 2. Who are the two young people Bryon meets at the hospital? > The two young people Bryon meets at the hospital are Cathy and Mike. Cathy is M&M's(Bryon and Mark's friend) sister. She is a nice pretty girl who had been away at school but came home early. Now she is working in the hospital's cafeteria. Mike is a boy across the hall from Bryon's mom, he got hurt when he brought a girl home because she missed the bus. When they got to her house a group of boys were on the lawn and beat him up. 3. What kind of relationship does Bryon have with Charlie? > Bryon has an odd relationship with Charlie because Charlie trusts his actions but has to double check his statements. This explains why Charlie lets Bryon borrow his car. 4. What happens at the dance? > At the dance Mark and Curtis were sitting on Terry's car when a kid they had never seen before started a fight with Curtis. Mark intervened when the kid picked up a beer bottle he had thrown earlier, he said " play fair" this is when the kid smashed the bottle on Mark's head. When Bryon, who was at the dance with Cathy, got to him Mark was passed out. An ambulance brought Mark to the hospital where he received ten stitches. Later that night, Mark was released and Curtis and Cathy brought Charlie's car from the dance so the boys could go home. 5. What does Bryon discover in his private conversations with Mark? > Bryon first discovers that Mark was scared after the fight that he could actually die, then he discovers that Mark thinks of Bryon as his brother but he does not think of Bryon's mom as his mom. Lastly he discovered that Mark was illegitimate he didn't have nor did he look like his dad. 6. What happened to Charlie? How do Bryon and Mark feel about it? > Charlie was killed one night trying to protect the boys from two Texans that they hustled. The Texans called the boys into an alley and were prepared to fight them with a gun and brass knuckles when Charlie appeared with a shotgun. The Texans started firing and so did Mark. After the fight was over Bryon told Charlie to get off him but when he looked Charlie had a bullet in his eye and he was dead. Bryon feels like Charlie's death is their fault because Charlie said "be careful" but they ignored it. On the other hand, Mark says it isn't their fault because things happen for a reason. He also says " Charlie knows the type of people who come into his bar why else would he have a shotgun". 7. What do Mark and Cathy think of each other? > Mark and Cathy have different opinions about each other. Mark doesn't like Cathy because Bryon is spending his time with her over him. He is jealous. Cathy doesn't like Mark because he likes to get even with people. For example, when the boys in the Corvette made a comment about Cathy he punched them. 8. What did Mark do to Angel? Why? >One night Bryon and Mark went to the Ribbon and saw Angela Shepard and a few of her friends in the parking lot. Angel was very drunk and got in the car with the boys, she was sobbing and talking about how she wasn't happy with her marriage. On the way to the lake, they stopped and got some rum and pop. Shortly after they arrived at the lake Angela fell asleep. Once Mark was sure she was asleep he took out scissors he had bought at the one-stop shop and cut off all of Angel's hair. He did this as payback for arranging the fight with Curtis that almost got him killed. 9. In chapter seven what does Bryon begin to discover about his good friend Mark? > In chapter seven Bryon begins to discover that Mark is bringing in a lot more money than usual. Neither he nor his mom suspected anything major, Bryon just figured he started to play serious poker. The fact that he may be stealing all that money never entered their minds because it was such a large amount. They didn't question it any further because they could use the extra money. 10. What happens to Bryon at Terry Jones' house? How does his attitude change? >When Bryon went to Terry Jones' house he was looking for Mark and he wasn't there so he waited on the front steps. After a little while, the Shepard boys, Tim and Curly, showed up with two other boys. They asked if he saw Angela and cut her hair off. Bryon agreed. They beat up Bryon and when he woke up Mark was with him on Terry's bed. Bryon's attitude changed because he told Mark not to get even with the Shepard boys. He thought this getting even "stuff" was stupid and he wanted no part in it. 11. In chapter nine, what happens to M&M? How does this move Bryon? > In chapter nine M&M tried "acid" or the drug LSD and it made him go crazy. He tried jumping out of the window. Then he started telling these stories about these spiders. Bryon and Cathy then took M&M to the hospital where they found out he has no physical damage but he may have mental damage. This moved Bryon because he was scared for M&M and his life. 12. What shocking discovery does Bryon make in Mark's bedroom? What does he do? > In Mark's bedroom Bryon was looking for an extra pack of cigarettes so he reached under his bed and pulled out a cylinder like thing. When he opened the cylinder all of these pills came out and he knew they were drugs and Mark was selling them because there were too many for one person. This was how Mark was bringing in all of the extra money. Bryon didn't know how to react to this so he called the cops. 13. How does Bryon's relationship with his friends and attitude towards life completely change? > Bryon's relationship with friends changed because he no longer cared about them or if he hurt them he became a different person after the whole ordeal with Mark. It was as if he wasn't even in his body he was just watching himself hurt the people he loved the most. Bryon's attitude toward life changed because it seemed as if there was no point in living for him he lost his best friend and he was not going to come back. Mark sad it himself he HATED Bryon. At the start of the book was someone who lived life to the fullest and now he was hurting the ones he loved. He became a new person. 14. How does Bryon feel at the end of this book? > At the end of the book Bryon can feel nothing. It's as if he is numb he doesn't care about Cathy or M&M even Mark. He doesn't feel sad, happy, jealous, angry, or in love. He can't even figure out why he loved Cathy in the first place. I think Bryon thinks the whole world walked out on him but he doesn't realize he pushed them away. 15. What do you think about this book and what life message does it teach? > I think this book was an eye opener to the world so close around us. It makes me very grateful for what I have. I am also very lucky to have two parents who are healthy and can support my brothers and me so we don't need to get jobs to help pay the bills. I feel this was a great book choice for eighth graders since we hear about this stuff every day and it really puts things into perspective. We are lucky to attend a great school with great teachers and then we go home and get to use electronics or take part in extracurricular activities. Until I read this book I didn't really think about how having a car is such a luxury. I think the life message this book teaches is whether it's the day you do something or ten years after you will get caught for what you have done. This book also teaches us not to take things but most of all friends and family for granted because in the blink of an eye you could lose everyone and everything. I really enjoyed this book and thought it was a good decision to make this a mandatory summer reading book.