You Say it First

Colby's father killed himself 10 months before the story begins. Colby remembers discovering his body with emotional details but no direct descriptions of violence. A fight with punching and kicking mentions feeling spit or blood. Pain from injuries like a broken nose, black eye, and bruised ribs is mentioned. A drunk adult falls down some stairs, a small amount of blood and a leg at an odd angle are described, but there's a safe resolution. In a dream a dog tracks blood into a house.

Kissing and caressing are briefly described. Having sex is implied by remembering "secret noises" and thinking about how "it finally happened." Teens make out in a motel room. They stop before they have sex and fall asleep together on the bed. There's a good example of asking for consent while making out. Meg mentions that she had sex with her previous boyfriend. An older teen claims to have had sex when he was 15. A teen thinks about masturbating in the shower and getting erections. A teen remembers bleeding through white shorts when she got her period once. A brief memory of a mom having a late-term miscarriage. A teen mentions a same-sex kiss in the past in being open to the possibility again if the right person came along.

"P---y," "d--k," "f--k," "bulls--t," "s--t," "boner" (calling names), "a--hole," "bitches," "ass," "nutless," "idiot," "douchebag," and "pissant."

Meg sees her mother drinking to excess. Once her mother picks Meg up while drunk and driving erratically. Once while stumbling around Meg's mother falls down a flight of stairs and is hospitalized. Meg tells the EMT that her mother is an alcoholic. Older teens drink beer, hard lemonade, and from a cola bottle that's mostly rum. Once a teen acts drunk while drinking sparkling wine from a bottle after a wedding. Drunken or risky behavior is rare and there aren't specific consequences except getting into arguments, friendships ending, things like that. A friend lights a joint.