Odd One Out by Nic Stone (review)

Basketball star and male cheerleader Coop has been in love with his next-door neighbor, Jupiter, since second grade. At seventeen, though, Jupiter is falling hard for Rae, a new girl who's always thought she was straight, but who finds Jupiter's voluptuous curves, activist sensibilities, and open-hearted personality appealing in ways she's never considered before. Rae's also attracted to Coop, as is every other straight girl in their school. The three become fast friends, but complications ensue, especially when Rae makes her choice (Coop), and Jupiter, in a fit of jealousy, sleeps with Coop and discovers that she really, really enjoys it. The story unfolds in three cleverly designed parts—first, the lovelorn Coop tries to come up with a game plan that helps him get over Jupiter; then the vocabulary-loving Rae sorts through a crossword puzzle of affections; and finally Jupiter attempts to deal with the heartbreak of losing Rae to Coop, and almost losing Coop to Rae, by turning to her Queen playlist. The structure and Stone's witty prose keep potentially angsty things light, and Stone even manages to make the programmatic aspects of the story enjoyable. As Jupiter discourses on labels with regard to sexual identity, Coop's two goofily lovable best friends chime in with funny quips that speak to the young people's fascination and confusion about these matters. As Coop's best guy friend Golly says, "This shit's hella interesting"; indeed, it certainly is. KC