Book BFF: Jules Demarco

Book BFF was created by Larks Andrea, Paula, and Jen to showcase some of our favorite ladies & was originally inspired by Book Boyfriend. We'd love it if you'd join us featuring your favorite Book BFFs and leaving links so we can check out your posts. We will be alternating between Book Boyfriends and Book BFFs on Thursdays.

Jules Demarco from Crash by Lisa McMann

Appearance: 

 Jules is never really described as such, which I loved because I could imagine her as I liked. In my mind, Jules is about 5 foot 4, with long bushy gingery brown hair and brown eyes. I imagined her wearing her hair up in a braid most of the time so it would be out of the way when she was working in the restaurant. She has a light dusting of freckles, and she has an average figure. I pictured her wearing jeans and sneakers, with plain t-shirts mostly, but sometimes hoodies when it was cold. 

 Facts about Jules: 

 She spends almost all her spare time working in her family’s Italian restaurant serving customers, or in their mobile food truck. 

Jules thinks she smells like pizza. 

Jules’ older brother Trey pays her $10 a week to drive the family truck to school so he doesn’t have to – it has 2 meatballs on the top and is a source of ridicule. 

 Jules likes to make ‘five reasons’ lists. 

 Jules doesn’t blaspheme, even though she does swear – instead she swears ‘to dog’. 

 Jules has been in love with Sawyer Angotti, son of her father’s restaurateur nemesis, since she was in first grade. 

 Jules and Sawyer were best friends when they were little because they didn’t know of their fathers’ feud. 

Jules sees a vision of Sawyer dying. 

Quotes: 

 “Five reasons why I, Jules Demarco am shunned: 1. I smell like pizza. 2. My parents make us drive a meatball-topped food truck to school for advertising. 3. I haven’t invited a friend over since second grade. 4. Did I mention I smell like pizza? Like, its umami*-ness oozes from my pores. 5. Everybody at school likes Sawyer Angotti’s family’s restaurant better. Frankly, I don’t blame them. I’d shun me too.” 

“I am here to serve as their nanny and slave, clean up when they make a huge sticky mess of sodden sugar packets, hot-pepper water glasses, and clogged parm shakers, and smile gratefully as I watch them not leave a tip. And I will promptly dismiss it from memory the next time I see them, when they call out in the hallway, “Hey Jules, how are those big balls treating you?” ” 

 “All day, the wall is my only friend. If I don’t look at the window, it’s a day with few visions.” 

 “I take a measured breath, and then I open my eyes and turn slowly toward her, covering my teeth with my lips and imitating that scary, gummy man from the hospital when Dad was there. In a harsh voice, I whisper, “Do you want to find out how crazy I really am?” ” 

 Why she’s my Book BFF: 

Jules is honest, self-effacing and committed to her family. She works hard, spends little time on herself and knows what is important in life. Her best friend is her brother, Trey. He is older, gay and shares her taste in men. She is pretty self-sufficient as her mother and father spend most of their time in the restaurant, or in her father’s case, holed up in their flat battling depression. Jules is a great girl – when she knows she needs to do something that may well give her a reputation as a crazy person at school she sucks it up and does it anyway because it is the right thing to do. She’s strong in the face of bullies and I’d love to hang out with her and eat some of her family’s pizza!