Rory counts down the hours until midnight when her birthday will officially begin. She thinks about the long list of privileges that she has been denied until after she turns 12. Annabelle is probably just as excited about Rory’s birthday as Rory is, because Rory will finally have similar privileges to the ones Annabelle has enjoyed for a long time. Rory rids her room of everything that seems childish—even her beloved teddy bear Throckmorton.

Sawyer, Rory’s three-year-old brother, is evading a diaper change, so Rory’s mother suggests that Rory change him to practice for her future as a babysitter. Although being allowed to babysit to earn money is one of Rory’s goals for after her birthday, she has had enough of changing Sawyer’s diapers: After Sawyer accidentally swallowed a dime, Rory was put in charge of going through all of his diapers to make sure the dime passed through his digestive tract.

Rory’s mother tries one last time to get Rory to choose a birthday party instead of a cell phone, but Rory does not waver. When she is alone, Rory takes out a chart of her goals: her own cell phone, contact lenses, a pet, Natalie Karp’s upcoming boy-girl party, staying home by herself, and so on.

Rory’s father looks sad when he sees that she has packed away her childhood items and quotes a Bible passage about “[putting] away childish things” (27). Rory’s school has announced that a movie is going to be filmed there. Rory is thrilled that 14-year-old heartthrob Jake Harrison will star in the movie. Annabelle calls and the two girls excitedly plan to try out as extras.

In her room, Rory finds an ad for a cell phone, but her excitement sours when she sees that it is a phone designed for children, with only two buttons: one to call parents and the other to call emergency services. It also contains a GPS tracker.

Rory wants to talk about the phone. When her mother avoids the conversation, Rory begs her father to reconsider the two-button phone. He offers her a box of materials about cell phones and cell phone plans, telling her to go through everything, choose three possible phones, and then present her thoughts about which is most suitable for her and the family’s budget. That night, Rory falls asleep still working on her presentation.

Rory wakes full of excitement for her birthday. She hops out of bed, but then slides into her door on the pile of cell phone brochures she left on the floor. In the kitchen, she is surprised to find that instead of a special birthday breakfast, her mother left her a bowl of cereal—she had to take Sawyer to one of his activities.

Rory thinks about making herself breakfast, since she is now allowed to use the kitchen appliances unsupervised, but she decides it is too much trouble. Her father starts the espresso maker before heading for his morning shower, so Rory decides that it is time to check off another item on her list: her first coffee. Not realizing how strong espresso is, she drinks a full mug and part of another before her father returns.

Shaky and dizzy from the caffeine, but bursting with energy, she goes through outfit after outfit and then falls back asleep. Her mother shakes her awake. It is time for her phone presentation. She looks at the outfit she has dressed herself in: a polka-dotted pink shirt with black-and-white striped shorts. She shudders and changes into something more sedate.

Rory gives a calm and reasonable overview of the three phones she has chosen, highlighting features that she thinks will appeal to her parents. They agree to one that has a number of parental controls, provided that Rory use her own money to pay for insurance in case the phone is lost or damaged. Rory is overjoyed when her father says he will take her to get the phone that very afternoon.

Rory rides in the front seat of the car for the first time on the way to the cell phone store. She can clearly see how fast traffic moves and how close the cars are, and she finds it terrifying. At the mall, Rory excitedly transfers the phone from pocket to pocket and into her backpack, searching for the perfect place to carry it. Suddenly, she tries to take out her phone to call Annabelle, but it is nowhere to be found.

Rory’s father finds it hilarious that she has already lost her phone, but Rory is miserable. Fortunately, she purchased insurance, so they return to the phone store to ask for a replacement. The clerks are impressed at someone losing their phone in such a short time: She is now the store’s record holder. Rory’s father can see how embarrassed she is, so he suggests that she wait in the nearby pet store while the clerks switch her service over to the new phone.

In the pet store, a teenage boy is buying dog food. Rory sees a white rabbit called “Kyle R.” that she falls in love with; she begins planning how to save enough money to buy him. The teenage boy is a dollar short of being able to complete his purchase.

Rory reaches into her backpack for her last dollar. Realizing that the boy might not accept it as charity, she drops it on the floor and then draws his attention to it, claiming that he dropped the money. The grateful boy pays for the food and leaves. The clerk assures her that the rabbit, which is on sale for just $20, will certainly still be in the store when she comes up with the money to buy him. 

Back in the car, Rory gets a call. Since no one has her number yet, she is surprised. It’s someone trying to reach Johnny’s Pizzeria, and she explains that it is a wrong number. She calls Annabelle. As soon as she hangs up, another phone call for the pizzeria comes in. Her amused father suggests that she call the cell phone store and ask for a new number, but the clerk tells her that the number cannot be changed for two more months.

During her birthday dinner at Applebee’s, Rory is humiliated that Sawyer is running half-naked through the restaurant, avoiding another diaper change. The restaurant is full of kids from her school, all laughing and filming on their phones. Sawyer grabs her phone as it rings and delightedly tells the pizzeria customer that he “[has] a naked butt” (68).