Yeah, I do think she was being a little bit of a drama queen to say she has a crazy life because her parents briefly separated and her mother went to stay with her aunt. Her life in general has actually been pretty stable, and even when one parent was living out of the house the one was consistent and the other was in touch. Relatively speaking her life is incredibly stable compared to plenty of kids. She's not in the middle of fighting parents or custody battles, she's not moving houses or schools, she's not having to deal with new people in her life like parental boyfriends/girlfriends or stepbrothers and sisters.
What Paige said to Kelli I thought summed it up well--she feels like there's something always going on and she wants to know what it is. She feels like there's craziness going on somewhere, but her own life seems pretty stable. It's her parents' lives that seem to have stuff going on even to her, but they're still there and involved with her more than probably plenty of kids in her class.
None of which makes her anxieties or feelings invalid or her truly not feeling like a mess. Recent events could easily have sent her into turmoil even if the cover stories were real, and her suspicions add a whole "Girl on the Milk Carton" aspect to it--that was a popular YA book in the 90s about a girl who's at lunch in the cafeteria one day and sees her own picture on a milk carton, throwing her identity into question. If Paige finds out her parents her spies, that would be crazy. But her parents separating with her not knowing the details and her mom being away for an extended period doesn't seem that crazy to me. I mean, she's got it less crazy than Matthew across the street whose Dad spent years with white supremists and now barely lives at home but they act like that's normal.
Re: Paige's "Crazy Life"
What Paige said to Kelli I thought summed it up well--she feels like there's something always going on and she wants to know what it is. She feels like there's craziness going on somewhere, but her own life seems pretty stable. It's her parents' lives that seem to have stuff going on even to her, but they're still there and involved with her more than probably plenty of kids in her class.
None of which makes her anxieties or feelings invalid or her truly not feeling like a mess. Recent events could easily have sent her into turmoil even if the cover stories were real, and her suspicions add a whole "Girl on the Milk Carton" aspect to it--that was a popular YA book in the 90s about a girl who's at lunch in the cafeteria one day and sees her own picture on a milk carton, throwing her identity into question. If Paige finds out her parents her spies, that would be crazy. But her parents separating with her not knowing the details and her mom being away for an extended period doesn't seem that crazy to me. I mean, she's got it less crazy than Matthew across the street whose Dad spent years with white supremists and now barely lives at home but they act like that's normal.