Such a Fun Age

Chapter 8 tells a story from Alix’s past, through the lens of her relating the events to her four girlfriends in New York before Catherine was even born. Over several glasses of wine, Alix relates her most embarrassing story, which took place in high school.

Just before Alex Murphy started her junior year of high school, her parents unexpectedly received a large settlement after a cremation error with her grandparents. Alex’s parents responded to their newfound wealth by going “insane” (101): purchasing a huge suburban home with land, going on trips in first class, and hiring a black woman who was a cook and maid for the family. Young Alex hated her parents’ responses to the wealth.

In Alex’s senior year, she began dating Kelley Copeland, a tall athletic white boy. Even as a teenager, she wrote letters, and one day, Kelley showed one of her letters to his best friend, a black boy, the “most popular kid in school” (103), Robbie Cormier. This particular letter had specific directions about Alex’s plan to lose her virginity to Kelley, including the weekend that her parents would be out of town and her address. When Robbie tries to invite himself over, saying he knows she could throw a party, Alex is upset, and Kelley assures her that he didn’t show her letter to anyone.