When the Bough Breaks

2 1/2 hours
pages 1-109

This book starts out with to best friends, Rachel and Teresa, hanging out on a friday night. It is the middle of their ninth grade year and have been best friends since they were eleven. They were at Teresa's house playing truth or dare, and it was Rachel's turn. Teresa dared her to prank call Jason West, Rachel's secret crush since sixth grade, so she did it! They both had a lot of fun doing that. After that Teresa's sister drove Rachel home and as they pulled up to her house they noticed that police cars and ambulances were parked all around it. When Rachel gets inside she finds out that her dad had been hit by a drunk driver on his way to pick up Rachel and died.
The family is torn. Rachel stays true to her beliefs and tries to hold the family together which doesnt help much. Their mom tries to be strong for the kids but it is so hard for her. Rachel has an older brother that still lives at home and after the dad passed away he gets hooked on alcohol. Everyone knows it but no one ever says anything. There are many times when Rachel will wait up for Ryan to get home and when he is throwing up in the bathroom she will clean up after him. I personally dont agree with what she does for him because he is not learning his lesson. He needs to know that by doing stupid things there are going to be consequences and that you are not always going to be helped with those consequences.