Claire Goldsmith

Claire Goldsmith is the eighth-grade first person narrator of the novel. She is the daughter of Nicole and David Goldsmith, and the younger sister of Matthew Goldsmith. Growing up, Claire has always had a close relationship with her father. She relies on him for everything, and believes he will always be able to be strong for her, to cheer her up, to understand her when no one else can. However, she takes this relationship for granted. In the first weeks of eighth grade, she is consumed by her competition with the first-chair saxophonist, Ryder Scott, by her inability to move up to the higher level classes in dance school, and by her frustrating social life at East Side Middle school. These distractions make her feisty and ill-tempered at home.

When her father has a sudden stroke, Claire is the only one home to help him. She is...