Crossing Lines by Paul Volponi

Publisher: Viking Juvenile
Age Group: YA
Rating: 4/5
Source: Publisher

Adonis is a jock. He's on the football team and he's dating one of the prettiest girls in school. Alan is the new kid. He wears lipstick and joins the Fashion Club. Soon enough the football team is out to get him. Adonis is glad to go along with his teammates . . . until they come up with a dangerous plan to humiliate Alan. Now Adonis must decide whether he wants to be a guy who follows the herd or a man who does what's right.

 
CROSSING LINES was a book I’ve never read before. The whole concept about it was different and not something that is always written in YA. I’ve had this book sitting on my TBR pile for a while, but never picked it up, until now.

Adonis is a football athlete. He wants to be up there because football players have it all. Enter Alan, football team calls him Alana, and he’s completely different from every guy in the school. He’s gay. He’s also in the Fashion Club and sadly for him, his dad is a Colonel. Later on, Alan wears red lipstick and the football team hates him for that, until Alan comes in wearing a dress and then the football team explodes.

Adonis is different from the members. He sees the bullying that happens to Alan by his team members, but he does nothing to stop it. He’s a bystander. His sister, who also is in the Fashion Club and friends with Alan, protects Alan and expects him to so the same as does his girlfriend Melody.

But the ending shocked me the most. The trick the football players were going to do on Alan during the Fashion show. I hated them after that. They hurt Alan, they destroyed him, and they landed him in the hospital. But in the end, they got what they deserved. The two players, who attacked Alan, were arrested. Adonis in the end realized what he was doing by not standing up was wrong. Alan could have died.

This book shows how dangerous hate and bullying can go. Alan still forgave them in the end, but the attack should have never happened to him. No matter who you are, what you do, remember that’s you. Don’t change because you may be getting hurt now, but in the end, it’s the bullies who suffer the tough consequences.  Whether people accept you or not, you were born this way and you’re perfect.