Daniela+S.

=**That Was Then, This Is Now Questions By: Daniela Sciulli**= Bryon is a big sixteen year old boy with dark hair and eyes who loves to fight. Mark is a small teenager with golden eyes and hair. He always seems to get away with things and is a thief. At the hospital, Byron meets M&M's sister Cathy and a badly injured boy named Mike Chambers. Charlie and Bryon have a relationship that goes back to when Byron was dating Charlie's sister. After they broke up, Charlie and Bryon still remained good friends. For example, even though they are underage, Charlie lets Bryon and Mark come into the bar/pool hall, where he works as a bartender. However, Charlie will not hesitate to beat up Bryon and Mark if they do not give back any money they owe him. At the dance, Mark and Curtis were sitting on a car in the parking lot when a guy that Angela hired started attacking Curtis. When the guy was about to strike Curtis with a broken beer bottle, Mark said they should fight fair, so the guy struck Mark with it. Therefore, Mark became unconscious and needed stitches in his head. Bryon begins to discover that Mark was illegitimate and things may have bothered him even though he didn't show it. For instance, Mark thought he was going to die when he was hit with the beer bottle. Bryon also discovered how Mark really felt about how they have both changed and grown over the years and why they did the things they did. He realized that Mark felt like something was coming to an end because something else was beginning. Also in their private conversation, Mark admitted that he thought of Bryon as his brother but did not consider Bryon's mom as his "old lady". While Mark and Bryon were on their way home from the bar/pool hall, the Texans tried to beat them up for winning all their money in the pool game. When Charlie tried to keep them from getting hurt, he got shot above his eye and died. Bryon thought this was a big deal since it was their fault he died. Charlie told them to be careful when playing pool with them, and he had his life set, and they blew it for him. However Mark thinks that things happen and that's all there is to it, so there's nothing to worry about. Cathy and Mark don't like each other. Cathy thinks Mark should not do some of the things he does, like hurting people because he gets impulses. Mark thinks she should stop analyzing and commenting people and trying to make something out of people. He gets most annoyed when she does that to him. They also both want attention from Bryon. Mark cut all of Angela's blue-black hair with scissors when she fell asleep in their car. He did this because she is the one who sent that man to hurt Curtis at the dance. With the cut Mark received from that guy, he could have been killed. In chapter seven, Bryon discovers that Mark doesn't think a lot of bad things happen to him or that he does anything bad. Bryon thinks that Mark thinks that because nothing ever leaves a mark on him, and he's different from other people. Bryon thinks Mark doesn't care about anyone except for him. He realized that everyone wants to be his friend because he's dangerous. Mark told Bryon that the night his parents shot each other, he knew Bryon's mother would let him stay with them. Also, Bryon realized that Mark was bringing in extra money, and he didn't know where Mark got it. At Terry Jones's house, Curly and Tim Shepard beat up Bryon because he told them he cut off Angela's hair. Bryon's attitude changed when he told them what he did instead of "hedging and playing the game". Also, in his talk with Mark, he said that no one should fight the Shepards and get even for what they did to him. He was sick of getting even and wanted to be the better person. At the free-lovers' house, M&M kept having visions from the LSD drug he was taking about very large spiders, which were eating his stomach and holding him down. There were even colors that were eaten by the spiders. This one color accused him of eating too many carrots. Because of these visions, M&M tried to jump out the window, and he became more suspicious and scared. Bryon is moved because he always thought M&M was a good kid, and he thought of him as his own little brother. He always loved how M&M was so trusting and never suspicious. Now that he is, Bryon feels the worst he has ever felt about anyone. Bryon discovers drugs under Mark's mattress. He knows Mark isn't using them, so he figures he must be selling them. That's where he has been getting the extra cash. Because of this discovery, Bryon very calmly called the cops. When Mark came home, he had a talk with him. Bryon's relationship with his friends has changed. He isn't going out with Cathy anymore, and he doesn't love and care for her like he used to. It's hard for him to be around M&M without feeling sorry for him. He can't be around Mark, even if he was out of jail, because Mark hates him with his whole heart. He also doesn't hang out with others anymore. His attitude towards life also completely changes. Everything to him is a blur, including school, work, and home; he couldn't remember much. Bryon couldn't feel anger, jealousy, or love for anyone, especially Cathy. He can only feel a halfhearted hope. He can't even hold grudges against Curtis. He feels like he became a mixture of things. At the end of the book, Bryon doesn't care about anything anymore, and is tired of caring about people. He mostly wonders "what if?". He's also too mixed up and wishes he had all the answers to those "what if?" questions, like he did when he was a kid. I thought that this book was a very deep and emotional book. It showed me the life young teens had to go through a while back, including gang fights and poverty. The author wrote the characters so detailed, I could actually picture their personalities, which were unique and different from most books I read. I really liked how the personalities changed, as well. The story line was also very crazy and unpredictable; it kept you guessing the whole time. I think the main message in this book was change. We shouldn't just live up to the moment and deal with life's consequences when you need to, like Mark. We should reflect on our past and make the necessary changes to ourselves. For example, Mark didn't know between right and wrong. He could change himself by learning the difference. We should think ahead, figure out who you want to be, and set goals to follow. Change is a character that is necessary in life.
 * 1. Who are Bryon and Mark?**
 * 2. Who are the two young people Bryon meets at the hospital?**
 * 3. What kind of relationship does Bryon have with Charlie?**
 * 4. What happens at the dance?**
 * 5. What does Bryon begin to discover in his private conversation with Mark?**
 * 6. What happened to Charlie? How to Bryon and Mark feel about it?**
 * 7. What do Mark and Cathy think of each other?**
 * 8. What does Mark do to Angel? Why?**
 * 9. In chapter seven, what does Bryon begin to discover about his good friend Mark?**
 * 10. What happens to Bryon at Terry Jones's house? How does his attitude change?**
 * 11. In chapter nine, what happens to M&M? Why does this move Bryon?**
 * 12. What shocking discovery does Bryon make in Mark's bedroom (Chapter 10)? What does he do?**
 * 13. How does Bryon's relationship with his friends and his attitude towards life completely change?**
 * 14. How does Bryon feel at the end of the book?**
 * 15. What do you think about this book, and what life message does it teach?**