Eugene Guterman’s junior year in high school is off to a rocky start. No love life, no new theater production, and if his mother has her way, no more of his favorite comfort food—donuts. Eugene would just as soon spend the year playing small, but that’s hard to do when you’re the biggest kid in your class.
Things change when he accidentally tackles the school’s star quarterback and Coach sees the possibilities and recruits the plus-size playwright onto the varsity football team. Eugene is suddenly catapulted into the world of the “The Pops,” the exclusive clique of popular athletes known for their parties and dating scene.
Best of all is the new and mysterious girl Daisy who seems to be noticing him.
Then Eugene discovers that life at the top is more complicated than he imagined—there’s pressure to excel, to fit in, and to uphold a certain image—and Eugene misses his former life and his old friends. Can he find the courage to give it all up, write something real, and maybe, just maybe, be the big guy who actually gets the girl?
"There’s a scene in this book where a character has to stretch out a sweater while nervously preparing to attend his first high school party, and I have never felt more seen. Allen Zadoff has written a book just for me. A heartbreaking coming-of-age tale that finds triumph in failure. Football, first crushes, theater, and donuts. I love this book."—Yehudi Mercado, author of Chunky and Sci-Fu