In eighth grade, Percy reconnects with Delilah at school and accepts the friendship partly because Sam has made her less desperate for Delilah’s approval. Percy and Sam keep up a constant email exchange until Thanksgiving, when the Frasers join the Floreks for dinner. Sam, under orders to be extra polite, jokes with Percy but is genuinely hurt when he notices she is not wearing the friendship bracelet he made; after Charlie reveals that Sam never takes his own bracelet off, Percy promises to wear hers next time.

The following summer, Percy brings Delilah to the cottage and is thrilled to see Sam again after seven months apart. Delilah immediately flirts with both brothers, which makes Percy defensive and jealous, especially when Sam proudly shows off the restored family motorboat. At the jumping rock, Percy is afraid to leap but refuses to look childish, so Sam offers to hold her hand and jump with her; afterward, on the boat, he says he pays attention to many things about Percy, and Percy becomes newly conscious of his changing body and of her own attraction to him.

During the Canada Day fireworks, Delilah aims most of her attention at Charlie, but Percy’s real discomfort comes from watching Delilah sit close to Sam. When Sam notices Delilah is cold and gives her his hoodie, Percy realizes how deeply she cares about his attention and finally admits to herself that Sam is not just her best friend. Percy tries to mask her jealousy by taking a sip of beer she hates, and Delilah quietly lets Percy know she has figured out the crush.

On Delilah’s last hot day at the lake, a basement game of truth or dare turns cruel when Delilah dares Sam to kiss Percy. Sam’s angry silence makes Percy think he does not want her, and Charlie steps in and gives Percy her first kiss instead. After Delilah leaves, Percy wants things to return to normal, but Sam becomes moody after catching her looking at Charlie. On the raft, Sam admits that Charlie is a jerk for taking Percy’s first kiss, and their fight turns into an unusually intimate conversation about periods, wet dreams, attraction, and first kisses; Sam reveals that he has never kissed anyone and that he sometimes dreams about girls with brown hair, which intensifies the tension between them.

In ninth grade, Percy discovers that she loves writing, and Ms. George encourages her to enter a short-story competition. Percy brings her journal to the cottage at Thanksgiving so Sam can help her choose a story, and while they sit together on her bed, Sam calls her pretty and their almost-kiss is interrupted by Percy’s mother. Percy keeps working on the horror story, Young Blood, with Sam’s help by email, and she is accepted into the March break writers’ workshop.

At Christmas, Percy surprises Sam at the Floreks’ house and meets Finn and Jordie, who already know her as Bracelet Girl, confirming how much Sam talks about her. In his room, Percy gives Sam the board game Operation because he wants to be a doctor, and Sam gives Percy a framed photo of the two of them so she can take the lake home. When Percy admits that Sam’s opinion matters more than anyone else’s, Sam says no one understands him the way she does, but he stops himself before kissing her because he does not want to ruin what they already have.