Have you ever wished you could go back and do things differently? Maybe tell a younger "you" who to be friends with, who not to date or what fashion trends to skip altogether? I know I HAVE! I've said many times that I if I could have the chance to talk to my teenage self again I would in a heartbeat!
Devi Banks is almost through her Senior Year of High School and is having quite possibly the worst day of her life when the she accidentally drops her cell phone in a fountain at the mall. After retrieving it she discovers that it still works (thank goodness!) but there's a problem...no matter what button she pushes, she keeps getting the same girl who claims to be her, Devi Banks. What. Is. Happening?!
Devi (the first one) quickly realizes that right before her cell phone fell into the fountain, she "wished" there was way she could talk to her Freshman self - tell her how not to screw up her life to the point that it is now in her Senior year. She figures out that when she uses her phone, she's actually calling herself, her younger, 14 year old self! Her wish has come true! She now has the chance to go back and change her life, that is, if she can convince herself, her Freshman self, that she's, they're not crazy and that she (Freshman Devi) is actually talking to herself from the future. Confused yet?
Once they figure out that they are the same "Devi" they get to work on "their" life. The first problem to fix? Bryan. (world peace can wait) Bryan is Devi's boyfriend who by Senior year has broken her heart. We don't know exactly what's happened but we do know that they meet at a party Freshman year, one that Freshman Devi, or "Frosh" as she decides to go by (to make it easier to keep track of whose who) is on her way to the day of the cell phone disaster. We also know that by Senior Year, Devi has no girlfriends, her family life is struggling and her plans for college look grim. Basically, she's staked her whole High School life around Bryan and now she's all alone.
The story progresses and is filled with hilarious conversations between Devi and Frosh as they continue to make changes in the past that have immediate effects in the future. Some of these changes are positive and don't just affect Devi and some of the changes aren't exactly what she was hoping for. (One decision Frosh makes takes Devi from a normal teenager one minute, to a spiky, pink haired, delinquent in a heartbeat!) The one thing that remains a constant throughout are her memories, especially the ones of she and Bryan. No matter how hard she tries to change her past, to rearrange it so he's not a part of her life, he still manages to play a key role. There are some pleasant surprises and Frosh makes better choices than Devi does the first time around even if it's not what she wants her to do.
One of the things that makes this story so enjoyable is that the characters are one in the same so when they are arguing, they are doing so with themselves. I found myself wondering what my conversations with my 14 year old self would sound like and I couldn't help laughing. There is a part of me that really would like the chance to talk to a younger version of myself and make some changes but only if I could have an "out", a way to keep things as the are now if I didn't like how they turned out. If I ever get the urge, maybe I'll just go looking for a fountain, make a wish and instead of dropping a nickel, I'll drop my cell phone instead. :)
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