How To Change In James Preller's Along Came Spider

I recently just finished James Preller’s Along Came Spider. In this novel, Spider Stevens (Robert Stevens) and Trey Cooper the two main characters, have lived next to each other their entire lives. They've been bestfriends since second grade. As they move to 5th grade, Spider starts to realize that Trey has a weird behavior that he never really noticed until middle school. Spider didn't really pickup on it in elementary school. Spider’s 5th grade class notices how weird Trey is and Spider eventually feels like he has to pick between Trey or his class. Spider and Trey’s friendship goes from being super close to distant. A significant passage of the theme statement is, when Ryan and Trey are in class. Ryan says to Spider, “I don't get it, how come …show more content…
One example of external conflict was when he was not being loyal to Trey. Spider turning away from Trey is an external conflict because, Spider struggles having to be “friends” with Trey and also not get caught being associated with Trey. Spider just wants to fit in with the popular kids, but the only thing stopping him is Trey. After School, In Trey’s backyard, Spider and Trey are talking. Spider tells Trey, “I know you can't be exactly like everybody in school, Trey. I just wish you’d try not to be so weird, It's cool that we hang out at home, But do you think maybe, you know, in school, you could… Chill out a little bit? Around here we’ll be friends. But in school… maybe not so much?” (Preller 59-61). This conflict causes Spider to grow and change because, Spider is not being fair to Trey at all. Yet trey doesnt notice it. He's not getting a clue that Spider doesn't want to be seen with him. This is important for understanding the book because Spider does want to be friends with Trey, but he wants to keep their friendship more private because he thinks Trey is an