Better Nate Than Ever

This summary section includes Chapter 26: “Split Screen,” Chapter 27: “After the Audition,” Chapter 28: “First Time I Didn’t Like a Sweet,” Chapter 29: “The Flower’s Alive”, Chapter 30: “A Boy Soprano with a Gutsy Chest Voice,” Chapter 31: “Curtain Call.”

Heidi intercepts Nate and Freckles before they return to the apartment. Nate’s mother is sleeping, and Heidi wants to let her rest—so the trio goes for a walk around the neighborhood. During their stroll, Nate unexpectedly receives a call from the casting crew. The director isn’t satisfied with the girls who auditioned for the role of E.T., so they ask Nate to come back.

Still at the studio after his latest audition, Nate finally has time to call Libby and give her the news; she shares school gossip in return. Nate feels vaguely homesick but not enough to leave New York: “A bigger part of me wants this, here. A bigger part of me knows this is my destiny, what thirteen years of torment have prepared me for, like my entire, tense childhood can be unspooled. Set free” (248). After Nate ends his call with Libby, the casting director dismisses him for the day.

Nate is crushed by what he perceives to be rejection, but Heidi tells him that the dismissal could mean anything. He refuses to be comforted and sinks into depression. As they ride the subway, Nate asks why Heidi and his mother are estranged. Heidi explains that their parents were very religious. As a teenager, Sherrie was the good daughter while Heidi was not. Heidi wanted to enter theater, which further alienated her family. Then, she discovered Sherrie drinking beer and told their parents—which got the latter grounded. The girls’ parents never forgave Sherrie, and Sherrie never forgave Heidi. Nate belatedly recalls that Libby found beer in Anthony’s bedroom. He texts her to not reveal Anthony’s secret, as he doesn’t want history to repeat itself.

Back at the apartment, Nate’s mother is now awake, showered, and dressed. Her hair is down, and she isn’t wearing makeup, which makes Nate realize how much she resembles Heidi. After an awkward silence, the sisters hug each other and begin to cry.

Someone knocks on the apartment door: It is a group of children trick-or-treating. Nate distributes a handful of candy. One of the children is dressed as Elliott from E.T. He asks what Nate is supposed to be, and Freckles says that his SuperBoy costume is under his clothing. Elliott retorts, “More like SuperFag” (265). Freckles shuts the door and says that this particular child is a jerk. Nate responds, “That kid’s an a-hole, and I’m not. Sometimes people are just a-holes, and you have to decide, every day, which kind of kid you are” (266). He believes that the insult will prepare him for his return to Jankburg.

While Freckles prepares hot apple cider for the group, Nate mentally prepares to go home. Suddenly, his phone rings. He notices the area code is from New York and realizes that the casting crew are contacting him again. His mother holds his hand as he answers the phone: “[...] Mom is rubbing my hand like it’s her own lucky rabbit foot. And then Heidi comes up behind her, and she takes Mom’s other hand. A hard-won, reunited family of lucky charms” (270).

Note: Although Better Nate Than Ever doesn’t explicitly end with Nate getting the part of E.T., this novel is the first in a trilogy. The second novel—Five, Six, Seven, Nate!—follows Nate’s adventures on Broadway.