“When a relationship is over, leave. Don’t continue watering a dead flower” (Anon). That advice would have been helpful for Leon in the book Playing with Matches by Brian Katcher. The book is about a teenage boy named Leon, who is desperate for love. He has had a crush on the school's prettiest girl, Amy, for years now. That is until he meets Melody, a misunderstood burn victim. Melody is hard to look at due to the fact her face is severely scarred from an incident that happened when she was a young girl. As Melody and Leon grew happy with each other, Amy came back into Leon’s life, and everything went downhill for Leon there. In the book, readers learn that people don't always gave to fulfill their expectations if they’re already happy. …show more content…
Although Amy has been in Leon’s fantasies and dreams since he was young, “Melody was the first girl who'd had ever really noticed [him], but now Amy liked [him] too” but when “ [Melody’s] lips spread into a smile… [Leon] couldn't help smiling back” (Katcher 164). Before Melody started dating Leon, Amy never notices him. Melody obviously made Leon happy, but Leon keeps thinking of Amy, the girl of his dreams. Also, while Leon is on a date with Amy, he thinks: “Christ, was this what dates with Amy were always going to be like?” (Katcher 223). Leon isn't enjoying his dates with Amy because they didn't have much in common. Leon finds himself always comparing his old fun dates with Melody, where he enjoyed himself, with the dates he went on with Amy, where he didn't enjoy himself as much. Leon really began to question was it worth picking Amy over Melody or