Kami comes home overwhelmed after the Di Bianco visit—seeing their mother, nearly kissing Taylor, and facing Thiago’s hostility were collectively too much. She walks into an escalating fight between her parents that crosses into forbidden territory when her father accuses her mother of infidelity. Kami finds her little brother Cameron crouched in distress. Her mother turns on Kami for coming home late and extends her ongoing phone ban. The argument halts when their father announces the family is “on the verge of bankruptcy” (146). He later takes Kami and Cameron to McDonald’s, where he explains that a colleague named Carrowell “has been embezzling from us” (148), but because their father signed off on the relevant contracts, he is legally entangled. As an immediate cost-cutting measure, he tells Kami they must sell her car. She agrees.

The next morning the family dismisses their longtime housekeeper, Prue, and everyone reacts emotionally to her departure. Later that day in history class, Taylor ends up seated beside Kami during a documentary screening. They discuss Anastasia, a childhood fixation of Kami’s, before Taylor tells her that he wants her, and they begin kissing in the dark. The teacher turns on the lights and sends them both to the principal’s office.

The principal threatens expulsion, calls their parents, adds a week of detention, and warns that further trouble will cost them their respective Ivy League ambitions—Harvard for Taylor, Yale for Kami. In the hallway afterward, they trade surprised reactions to each other’s college goals. Kami says the kiss “was a mistake” and that she “isn’t ready to have anything with a new person” since her breakup with Danny (158). Taylor backs off but suggests they go slowly and see what happens.

Thiago then confronts them in the hallway, strikes Taylor on the back of the head, and blames Kami for ruining his family’s life. Taylor shoves back but restrains himself from escalating. Kami warns Thiago that his probation puts him at far greater legal risk than Taylor, who is a minor. Thiago walks off. Kami tells Taylor her guilt makes any relationship between them impossible. Taylor rejects this and leaves, resolved not to let her go.

At library detention, Thiago notices that “[t]he three guys all stared at the door waiting for her to come, and I…I did the exact same thing” (161). She arrives late, explaining that her mother failed to pick up Cameron and she had to do it. When detention ends, Thiago sends everyone out but keeps Kami behind. Taylor pauses at the door and exchanges a hard look with Thiago before leaving.

Alone with Kami, Thiago warns her to stay away from Taylor, his mother, and his house, threatening to extend her detention if she refuses. When she defies him, their confrontation becomes increasingly tense and personal. The janitor makes her rounds and flips off the lights without looking in, leaving them in “complete darkness.” In the dark, the tension between them shifts from hostility to mutual attraction. Thiago ultimately pulls back when he hears a sound in the corridor and tells her to go. She grabs her bag and slips out.

Kami drives away quickly, then stops to process what just happened. She reflects that no previous experience has felt as overwhelming as the encounter with Thiago, which alarms her. At home, her father is waiting—he has already received the school’s call about the classroom kissing incident. He scolds her seriously, warning that her behavior could cost her the scholarship she may now need, and insists she refocus on Yale. That night, Kami sits at her desk “drawing a pair of lips” while watching the Di Bianco house for Thiago, who never looks over (168).

The following morning, her mother temporarily returns her phone. Among her messages is an affectionate note from Taylor asking to talk and a second message from an unsaved number that she recognizes as Thiago’s, ordering her to stay silent about what happened.

At school, Kami dodges Taylor, then arrives late to math, where the teacher forces her to work a problem at the board she cannot solve. Ellie later tells her that Danny’s parents made a large donation to the school and that he has been reinstated on the team. Kami confronts Danny, who hints he has damaging information about her father. Before it turns physical, Taylor steps in and reminds Danny that Thiago controls playing time. Danny backs off. Taylor and Kami agree to talk at the motel.

Taylor reflects on his growing conflict with Thiago over Kami and contrasts their personalities—he sees himself as optimistic and easygoing where Thiago is bitter and withdrawn. Remembering how Kami relied on him during childhood, he reflects on his protective feelings for her and rejects Thiago’s attempts to blame her for the collapse of the Di Bianco family. He notes that he has been voted team captain in Danny’s absence. On the day of departure, his friend Victor Viani arranges drinking on the bus. At lunch, Taylor flirts with Kami in the cafeteria line and invites her to the back-of-bus gathering, calling it a date. Kami declines to drink before the game but continues to banter with him, and she is cautiously noncommittal. Taylor walks away confident, hinting that he would not have changed what happens next even knowing the outcome.

While waiting for the bus, Kami approaches Julian Viani, who is standing apart from the group. She apologizes for not following up on their earlier plan for coffee and proposes watching a horror film in his motel room that evening. He lights up. When Thiago arrives to take roll, Kami lingers at the back of the line—but as the last person to board, she cannot avoid the moment. Thiago quietly addresses her by her old nickname, asking her to “[p]lease, Kam, just get in” (182). Overwhelmed by her lingering attraction to him, she boards and sits away from Taylor.

In Falls Church, the group checks into their usual motel. Coach Klebb, who has family in town, is largely absent. That evening Kami visits the nearby 7-Eleven and finds Thiago purchasing condoms. Their hostile, flirtatious standoff ends with Kami buying condoms as well to neutralize his provocation. Taylor walks in mid-scene, invites her to the midnight party in his room, and makes pointed remarks. Back at the motel, Kate mentions that Julian’s presence unsettles her. Kami declines her friends’ invitation to Taylor’s midnight party and chooses instead to spend the evening away from the gathering, maintaining her plan to watch a movie with Julian.

After choosing not to attend Taylor’s party, Kami goes to Julian’s room, where she learns that he is rooming alone. He explains that his mother experienced addiction during his early years and that he was largely raised by his father and stepmother, Rachel. Kate grew resentful of his closeness with Rachel and has been quietly hostile ever since, hiding it behind a pleasant surface. Kami comes to see both sides of their strained relationship more clearly. The platonic ease of Julian’s company relaxes Kami, and she falls asleep before the film ends.

She wakes the following morning to discover she has missed nearly all of the pre-game practice. After finding several teammates still asleep or unprepared, she clashes with Kate over the squad’s lack of discipline and preparation. The hangover-impaired squad struggles through a sloppy run-through at the competition venue. Standing in the gym, Kami spots Thiago alone in the bleachers, clearly furious. When the opposing team takes the floor and begins their routine, she immediately understands that Carsville is in serious trouble.

Thiago surveys the wrecked condition of both the basketball players and the cheerleaders and knows a night of partying is to blame. He was not at the motel himself—he spent the night with a woman he knows in Falls Church—but admits internally that he “imagined [he] was with Kam” the entire time, a fixation he recognizes as “a problem” (196).

During the Carsville routine, a visibly ill teammate turns away to be sick at the moment she is supposed to catch Kami, who is performing as the flyer. Kami comes down with no one to receive her and crashes headfirst to the floor. Thiago clears the bleachers and pushes through the crowd to reach her, terrified. Taylor arrives seconds later. As Kami regains consciousness, still disoriented, she murmurs that she dreamed Thiago was kissing her—and Taylor hears every word. The attending doctor finds no concussion but orders rest and close monitoring. After persuading Taylor to return to his team, Thiago escorts Kami to the bus; she lashes out on the way, telling him not to feign concern he doesn’t feel. The moment he steps off the bus at the gym, Coach Klebb confronts him, demanding an explanation for the players’ condition.

Kami spends the game in her room with a splitting headache, following the score through teammates’ texts. The basketball team wins. When the cheerleaders crowd in afterward, Kate dismisses the loss as a learning experience. Kami pushes back, holding Kate directly responsible for the lack of discipline before the competition. The confrontation peaks when Kate reveals that Ellie mocked Kami at the party. Feeling betrayed, Kami announces she is quitting cheerleading. On the balcony, Taylor finds her in tears, comforts her, and speaks highly of her natural leadership. The conversation turns intimate, and he begins touching her, but Kami realizes she is picturing Thiago rather than Taylor as the encounter intensifies. Before anything goes further, Thiago knocks and orders everyone to pack: Coach Klebb is sending the group home early as punishment.

On the bus back, Kami sits with Taylor, and they talk the entire way while Thiago keeps his distance. At school pickup, Cameron announces loudly that Kami’s car has been sold. Their mother’s composure falters when she sees how close Kami and Taylor are stepping off the bus. In the car, when her mother warns her away from the Di Biancos, Kami loses her temper and alludes to her mother’s affair. Her mother slaps her and threatens to bar her from the house. That night, with their parents fighting again, Cameron comes to Kami’s room in his pajamas and asks to sleep with her. She makes room for him.