Content Warning: This section references death and vehicle accidents.

The teenage years are an important time for young adults as they navigate their changing identities and relationships. Life-altering events that take place in one’s young adulthood have large implications for the trajectory of one’s life, as Sarah Dessen explores in Someone Like You. Halley and Scarlett navigate losing a partner, unplanned pregnancy, first love, and traumatic accidents in the text. While many of these events have negative ramifications or permanently restructure one’s life, they also often provide clarity and deeper understanding of what and who is most important.

Through losing her boyfriend, Michael, and navigating an unplanned pregnancy, Scarlett’s life is forever changed. Halley shows that the impacts of hardship can be more easily weathered when facing them with unconditional support when she supports Scarlett in her pregnancy. Once Scarlett decides to not have an abortion, Halley listens to her friend without judgment and “never question[s] her choice again” (113). Halley understands the challenges that Scarlett will face as a pregnant teenager and mother, but she also knows that her position as Scarlett’s friend is to support her decision and help her in any way that she can. These hardships entirely restructure Scarlett’s future and set her life’s direction to an extent.