Annie on my mind

The book Annie on my Mind deals with a teenager girl having feelings for another girl while being confused with what she wants and what society wants from her. The book was a classic teenager love story mixed with the emotions love, hurt, confusion, and acceptance; only in this book we see it with two girls, not the typical boy-girl story.
Really, the book didn't "open my eyes" to thing I didn't already know or point out anything new. Liza, as she feels stronger and stronger for Annie as time passes, is confused because of what she is feeling but is more confused about the society we live in. It is natural for a teenager to feel confused when dealing with love. Its a step that you've never had to walk and its human nature to have the mix of emotions that Liza shows throughout the book. Why do I have a feeling for this person I've never had with anyone else? Why do I feel this way? Does he/she feel this way too? All these questions that everyone has or will ask throughout their life when dealing with emotions for another.
The main issue is that she is confused because of the society we live in. Is this OK? Why do I feel like this is wrong? Is it wrong? These are some questions Liza brings up throughout the story. Shes asking these questions because she feels that what she is feeling towards Annie is not accepted in society and she is unsure of what to do. Though the two finally get going on the physical aspect of it when Liza is house watching, it takes them a lot of time to finally get physical. We see this a lot in most relationships, the hesitation to move on on the physical side of things. Mainly, its an act of discipline i.e. saving yourself, what image you want to give the other, etc. The two girls are scared to move on in that department because they are scared of what society has taught them; that this is wrong. It is interesting to watch them as they try and fight these views that have developed in their brain through the media or society and try and get to what is natural for them.
The acceptance is the most intriguing part of the story, especially with Liza's parents. I would gather that Liza's family is pretty conservative, especially the father. However, he is not stupid. When most readers thought the dad would blow his top when he finds out, he is calm and understanding, as it seemed he knew the entire time. The mother doesn't want to hear about it and it takes the brother awhile to soak it all in but his love for his sister comes through.
It was not hard drawing this comparison to what we see with parents and kids in boy-girl relationships. Dad has a hard time talking to his kid about the situation, mom doesn't want to believe its happening to her child, and the sibling is the one that's there to be supportive. The mother seemed to deny it at first and seemed to be coming around to it.
Regarding the mother or any family member to Liza that was surprised and denied it or got angry. Can you blame them? Throughout their lives, they had this image of Liza and what they wanted her to be. They thought she was headed down that direction that they wanted her to go but she went else where. In our own lives, if we expect something to happen or assume that its going to be "this way" we want it to be that way, naturally. If it doesn't happen the way we expect, we get angry. That's what happened with the parents. The dad said he wanted Liza to start a family, something he thought was going to happen for 17 years and then this "bombshell" news hits him.
Annie is a little more to the left wing. Cali native, lives in a rundown place, and is very imaginative. As I discussed earlier, Liza is a little more conservative. Throughout the book, they're trying to meet somewhere in the middle. It seems that both just kind of toss their ideas and what they were taught out the window when they're together as they are so in tuned with what they're feeling.
In dealing with the other students once they've found out about Annie and Liza, it is interesting to see how they respond. Yes, Liza does get the one note, but after that the schools STUDENTS had seemed to accept what was going on. Clearly, the school itself didn't accept it due to both teachers being fired. It is a very old fashioned school and something like this happening goes against their ways and identity.