Whale Talk

T.J. secures three-hour workout slots at All Night Fitness and finishes assembling the Mermen with his recruitment of Simon DeLong, an overweight teen who gets custom Speedos as a result; Jackie Craig, a nondescript teen who was cut from the JV football team; and Andy Mott, known for his limping gait, surliness, strength, and height.

T.J. credits Carly Hudson, his girlfriend, with giving him the calm he needs to manage the team. T.J. met Carly after a series of unsuccessful relationships, just as predicted by Georgia Brown, the therapist whohelped T.J. work on his anger issues after his adoption. T.J.’s previous relationships always ended because he smothered his girlfriends with attention in an attempt to make himself “indispensable” (68), an unhealthy dynamic because girls who liked such treatment would always be unhealthy, while those who did not like it would end the relationship.

Carly is different; she is “a jock” whose “natural sexuality” (69) instantly attracted T.J. He met her during the summer between his sophomore and junior year one night at the river after she struck up a conversation with him. Because he was playing it cool, he didn’t ask her to an upcoming dance but was upset when she showed up with his nemesis,