61 pages • 2 hours read
Sarah DessenAlong for the Ride
Fiction | Novel | YA | Published in 2009A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Chapters 13-16Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 13 Summary
After the separation, Heidi concentrates on the Beach Bash, an end-of-summer tradition with a dance and merchant participation that she leads. Heidi also offers to support Auden if she wants to discuss the separation, but Auden repeats that she’s fine. Unlike when her parents separated, Auden feels her throat tightening, panic, and “awful” sensations, she thinks because it involves Thisbe, who is so new to life.
Still “unsettled,” Auden delves into work spreadsheets and receipts, then organizes the office. She ignores Victoria’s calls, keeping her distance since her mom hung up on her. Though Auden considers telling Victoria about the separation, she imagines her smugness over Heidi and Robert’s marriage collapsing. As Auden cleans, she finds pictures of Heidi on Clementine’s opening day, and another of pregnant Heidi and her father smiling on the beach.
Adam invites Auden and the girls to a kickball game. He states it was Eli’s idea and encourages them to come, as this game signals Eli is rising from his funk. Maggie looks at Auden, signaling she’s the reason Eli isn’t miserable anymore. At closing time, Auden makes excuses about paperwork, avoiding the kickball game and Eli. She falls into her old habits of staying removed from social activities and works late, then sits on the boardwalk, staring at them playing kickball on the beach.
A voice calls her name, and she turns to Jason, a classmate who asked her to prom and then ditched her for a last-minute academic event. Jason is in town for a leadership conference. Auden says she’s busy with work, hiding her feeling of inadequacy by saying her job is an economic and financial internship. She is ashamed to admit she hasn’t been as studious as him this summer. Jason rambles about reading and planning ahead since freshmen are expected to be prepared by day one on campus. He suggests they catch up while he’s at the month-long conference, and Auden agrees, although she’s caught off guard when Jason hugs her.
As soon as Jason departs, Eli appears and asks her what’s wrong. Auden lies and says nothing is wrong. He prods if her sulky mood has anything to do with Heidi and her dad. Auden snaps that she’s behind on her studies and can’t spend her summer “slacking off” with things like kickball (290). When Auden continues that their time together has been fun, but she needs to “get serious,” Eli wishes her good luck (291). Before he leaves, Auden tries to explain, but her sentence hangs, and Eli walks away.
Chapter 14 Summary
Auden settles into her new reality without Eli. Auden stays home every night. She remembers Jason’s passion for college, and she opens her Economics textbook and notebook again. Auden adores the familiar comfort of academics, her old “friend” who waited patiently for her and felt “safe and right” to return to (294). After studying, she falls asleep at her desk. She cures her insomnia by studying, which relaxes her each night.
Back at work, Maggie, Adam, and some others are crowded around the store’s laptop watching a bike competition video. Eli earned second place in a local competition after a year of not competing. They’re supportive and amazed by Eli’s technique. Auden didn’t know he was re-entering competitions, though she’s proud of him. She feels guilty about how she treated Eli, reflecting that the best things are worth fighting for. Despite these thoughts, Auden redirects her energy to studying.
At home, Heidi comments on Auden’s many text beeps. Auden explains the messages are from Jason, her ex-prom date who stood her up, which he’s probably trying to make up for. She doesn’t return his texts, thinking she and Jason don’t need a second chance. The mention of prom causes Heidi to exclaim “Prom!” as the theme for Beach Bash.
About a week after Heidi and Robert’s separation, Auden visits her dad in his hotel. When Robert assumes Auden doesn’t like Heidi, she counters that she likes his wife and doesn’t agree with Victoria on everything. He complains about not knowing Heidi’s moods, feeling overwhelmed, and thinking he’s failed her and Thisbe, but Auden points out that they love each other. Robert replies that sometimes love isn’t enough, which frustrates Auden. Since her father is a great writer, she knows he can come up with better than this throwaway line.
She leaves abruptly for work, flushed and “infuriated” that her father isn’t trying to fix his marriage or be there for his baby. She storms to Clementine’s and asks Maggie if she will do her a favor.
Chapter 15 Summary
Maggie happily teaches Auden to ride a bike, the favor she requested. Auden crashes many times, recognizing that she did not learn to ride earlier, or else she’d remember how. Though embarrassed and self-conscious at her failure, Auden doesn’t quit. Maggie cheers for her, even when Auden wipes out. Finally, Maggie calls for reinforcements, though Auden protests that no one should see her shameful performance. Maggie reassures her that it’s impossible to be embarrassed in front of Adam.
Adam employs other training styles. He starts with Auden on the handlebars, slowly biking through town as she holds on. Adam asks her what she’s feeling; as they cruise by the ocean, seagulls, and morning joggers, Auden states she feels like she’s flying. Adam laughs that she’s feeling the fun and exhilaration of riding a bike. Auden even lets go and lifts her hands out wide as she sits on the handlebars, and he pedals faster.
After her ride with Adam, she gains confidence, meeting Maggie every morning to practice. Soon, Maggie doesn’t have to hold her bike seat or run alongside her. Auden practices hard to honor the quest with Eli, thinking that this one skill may make up for how poorly she treated him. Though she ended their connection, Auden hopes that learning to bike—Eli’s passion—may earn his love.
Between falling into a regular sleep schedule, learning to ride a bike, working, and studying, Auden ignores calls from her parents. She chats with Hollis, who is still in love with Laura, the only functional relationship lately. He states that Victoria misses her, and Auden says their mom doesn’t miss anyone, but he assures her it’s true and that she should give her another chance. Hollis also says Finn, the grad student, won’t give up. Finn is stalking the house, begging Victoria to take him back after she called it off.
She thinks of her parents and checks her voicemails. In one, her mother sounds sorrowful, saying she deserves to be ignored and that she pushes away those she loves most. From this message, Auden returns her call and asks about her divorce. Victoria explains that they tried hard to make it work before separating. Auden shares that Heidi and Robert separated, and her mom is concerned, saying marriages ending are never ideal, especially with a baby involved. Auden’s heart warms at this unforeseen reaction, and then suddenly she’s crying. Though they aren’t the “touchy-feely” type, Auden sobs that she wishes she did some things differently, and her mother says everyone wishes that.
Chapter 16 Summary
While Auden works, Adam delivers pictures of him and their friend group from past proms. Auden is applying cream to her latest skinned knee from a bike crash when he arrives, and Adam cheerily applauds her road burn. They discuss how even professional riders crash. Adam tells her that no matter how many times you wipe out, you just need to keep getting back on the bike once more.
Auden opens the photo box, which Heidi requested for the Beach Bash. Since Adam was on the yearbook staff, he has plenty of pictures. While Auden peruses the photos—Maggie, Jake, Esther, Leah, Wallace, and their date—she mentions that he has the most shots of Maggie. Adam admits he has feelings for Maggie and wishes he could have a chance with her, but fears she has always seen them as just friends. Auden encourages him to ask Maggie because then he won’t regret the unknown. He tells Auden to ask Eli to the Beach Bash prom, but she tells Adam they’re hardly talking. Adam says she should get back on the bike and that Eli will understand.
Since Jason keeps texting Auden, she finally agrees to meet for lunch. She thinks that maybe Jason could have been her boyfriend and prom date if she’d pursued him. During lunch, they bond over their shared love of academics and summer experiences. He asks Auden to be his date to the Beach Bash, making up for their missed prom. She agrees easily.
When she arrives home, Heidi is standing on the porch, looking at the ocean, with red eyes from crying. Auden asks about the outcome of the recent lunch with her dad. The couple agreed to stay separated for now, which makes Auden think her dad never got back on the bike. At the slightest wobble, he abandoned the entire ordeal, though he made it appear like a sacrifice, telling Heidi he was hurting more than helping her and Thisbe. She tells Auden she’s okay, despite the temporary separation.
Chapters 13-16 Analysis
Auden’s old classmate Jason (and competition for valedictorian) functions as a forceful pushback into her academic pursuits. His appearance reignites Auden’s drive for academic success, as his summer spent preparing for college and gaining knowledge from a conference are impressive to her. Jason’s unwavering ambition both inspires and distresses Auden. She hasn’t spent enough time over the summer studying, prepping for classes, attending scholarly events, or anything other than working and hanging out with her friends and Eli. Due to Jason’s detailed conversation about his accomplishments over the summer, Auden stresses about school, worrying she is behind and that she maybe shouldn’t have wasted time on a social life or her quest. Auden prioritizes school once again.
After running into Jason, and dealing with Heidi and Robert’s separation, Auden takes her stress out on Eli in a destructive conversation. Even though he tries to help when he can tell she’s sulking and keeps asking her what’s wrong, Auden pushes him away. She belittles their time together as “slacking off” (290). Eli is upset by Auden’s words. She further says she’s “totally behind” on preparing for school, and though their time has “been fun,” she needs to read and study to excel at Defriese (290). Though she could balance her time between academics and social life, Auden has never had both and is overwhelmed.
Eli doesn’t fight back against Auden or try to change her mind, just wishing her “good luck” in a “final, distant tone” that portrays his anger and disappointment (290). Though she tries to stop him from leaving, she can’t continue. Auden employs a half-sentence trick like her dad uses, expecting Eli to fill in the blank. Eli doesn’t speak though, leaving her to do the hard work of expression. Auden doesn’t have the courage or emotional intelligence yet to explain herself. She cannot repair the damage she’s inflicted on him, and Eli isn’t going to speak for her. An underlying theme of silence versus speaking up is shown here, as Auden can’t find the words to apologize or justify her behavior. Instead of expressing the depth of her worries—sharing her father and Heidi separated or how Jason’s talk influenced her—Auden seals her thoughts and feelings away from Eli when he would have helped her unpack and process them. Earlier in the book, Eli told her that people were either in or out; it was simple. Eli interprets that Auden is out of their relationship, and he is finished too as he walks away.
When Auden visits her father in the hotel, they have a mature conversation that displays themes of perseverance, sacrifice, second chances, and empathy. Though Auden doesn’t confront her father directly, she tells him Heidi loves him and that she is visiting because she wants them to “work it out” and be happy (300). Auden determines that her father doesn’t want to persevere and that he is prone to giving up and blaming others when he is at fault. She believes he should sacrifice and compromise to make the marriage work. She can’t believe a writer like him can only deliver a cliched line about love not being enough. She tries to reason with him, but Robert acts so stubbornly that Auden leaves feeling “infuriated.” Like Eli told her, you were in or out, and her father is making the wrong choice to be out.
Auden’s decision to learn to ride a bike helps develop her character’s identity. Biking is a strong symbol in the book of her reliving her childhood and refusing to quit. As one of her quest items, riding a bike is Auden’s way of reliving her childhood, pushing through failure, and earning Eli’s love. Although she was adamant with Eli that she could ride, Auden finally accepts that she doesn’t know how to ride a bike. Her many wipeouts point to her lack of skill and experience. Unlike with other activities though, she applies herself to this sport, using the drive she normally reserves only for academic pursuits.
Maggie and Adam are her mentors in the bike scenes, teaching her to let go of her worries, self-consciousness, and expectations. Auden needs to learn to be free, to live not only for work but for enjoyment. Biking helps instill these values in her. In the process of learning to ride, she values her inner child and the quest she made with Eli, and proves she can be determined. Auden’s practice with biking highlights the theme of change in character. She decided to learn something new to simply learn it, not to get ahead or earn a reward. She wants to learn to ride a bike for the joy of it and to challenge herself to stay committed—though she also hopes biking will earn Eli’s love and respect.
Related Titles
By Sarah Dessen
