On Aaron’s first day of freshman year at Shepton High, Debra dropped him off. Stefan, who should have been starting seventh grade, reflected on Aaron’s brutal middle school years at Renner Middle School—-shoved into urinals, beaten with a pipe—-and felt guilty for his own protected isolation. He watched Aaron walk bravely into the massive school and resolved to tell Mom the next day that he wanted to return to public school.

That night, Aaron announced that Caleb, their childhood friend from Indianapolis, had died from a heart arrhythmia. Debra flew alone to the funeral while Dad worked, leaving Stefan home by himself for days—his first extended time alone. Grief-stricken and panicked by the empty house, Stefan screamed until his voice echoed. When Debra returned, she was weighed down with sorrow. Stefan created a poster presentation on the stages of grief, and his mom held him close, promising she would never let anything bad happen to him and saying she couldn’t live without him.

Some time later, Debra read an article claiming a connection between infant crawling and fine motor control. Believing this explained Stefan and Aaron’s poor handwriting, she ordered both boys to crawl instead of walk. For weeks, Stefan crawled everywhere, leaving his knees and palms raw, bruised, and swollen.

As Stefan noticed his first pubic and armpit hair, he feared this evidence of puberty would upset his grieving mother. Using safety scissors, he secretly cut away the new growth. Crying, he realized he could not stop time for his mom and would likely miss seventh grade entirely. He crawled back downstairs to his mother, trying to look like a replica of his blond baby self.

The chapter opens with an allegorical story: A lonely boy from Nowheresville becomes a disembodied consciousness, traveling through minds and visiting other isolated people. He enters his own mother’s brain as a four-year-old girl quarantined in a hospital, realizing he needs a body and must be seen in the world to survive.

Stefan continued crawling through the fall. Debra, still depressed after Caleb’s death, had stopped calling her friend Rachel and told Stefan he must now be her best friend.

As Nana developed advanced dementia, Debra and her sisters decided Nana would rotate living with them, starting with a stay in Texas. Nana was affectionate but confused when they picked her up from the airport, having forgotten to pack a suitcase. Her presence was a profound relief for Stefan. They read together, watched movies, and held hands. Mysteriously, her arrival also ended the crawling regimen. One night, Nana whispered that she knew Stefan was lonely. 

One day, while Debra shopped, Nana had a panic attack and tried to leave the house. Fearing Nana would wander away, Stefan physically restrained her. They struggled and fell to the floor together. After a terrifying moment of stillness, Nana broke the tension by sticking out her tongue and blowing a raspberry, making them both laugh.

A week later, Nana was sent to Aunt Carol in Seattle for her next planned stay. Stefan regretted telling his mother about Nana’s panic attack, believing it prompted the decision to send her away. Debra told Stefan that losing her mother to dementia felt like part of herself was disappearing and instructed him to resume crawling. Stefan had a revelation: his mom was making him useless to the outside world so that he could never leave her. He found a card Nana left with a quote from Goethe: “Be bold, and mighty forces will come to your aid” (111).

Stressed about money, Debra started an after-school math tutoring business. It grew quickly, and her students were mostly girls. She called them “arithmachicks.” While she ran her classroom below his bedroom, Stefan hid upstairs, isolated and angry. As his mom was too busy to oversee his education, Stefan enrolled in a correspondence algebra class. He developed a crush on a 12-year-old student, Madeline, but their brief interaction was awkward.

Stefan’s paternal grandmother, Grandma Mimi, came to stay from Florida. A formidable, stylish woman, Mimi was formerly married to Mandell, a mob-affiliated con man whose Ponzi scheme made headlines. After Mandell’s disgrace and subsequent heart attacks, Mimi saved the family by becoming a successful real estate agent.

Mimi immediately criticized the homeschooling arrangement and asked Stefan if he was lonely. Debra asked Stefan to be on his best behavior to prove Mimi wrong. Instead, Stefan sabotaged Debra by acting like a slacker. He read comics, pretended ignorance, and played with his hamsters, Harriet and Herbie, in the elaborate habitat he had created for them. Mimi announced she would talk with Debra to advocate for Stefan. 

The next morning, Debra furiously confronted Stefan, accusing him of betraying her. She shoved him backward, and Stefan’s head hit a dresser. Stunned, Stefan apologized to his mom.

When a large crack appeared in the Blocks’ living room ceiling, a handyman informed them the house’s foundation was sinking. Repairs would cost nearly the value of their home’s equity. The stress caused Stefan’s father to gain weight and develop a massive pimple. Debra expanded her tutoring business to 40 students to help fund the repairs.

Stefan developed a secret online life in an AOL chatroom called the “Blabbatorium.” Representing himself as “13/M/Single,” he spent afternoons and evenings chatting with girls, hiding his activity by pretending to work on his correspondence algebra course. Stefan developed a rapport with a user named SNICKERZ4U and told her he planned to return to public school for ninth grade. 

Stefan’s hamster, Harriet, gave birth to eight pups. After Stefan and Aaron took the litter to a pet store to be rehomed, Harriet died, seemingly of heartbreak. Stefan told SNICKERZ4U about his hamster’s death, feeling a strong connection through her expression of pity. 

During a shopping trip, Stefan told his mom he needed larger shoes for when he was at school next year. Debra became tense but only said, “Right.” That night, Stefan accidentally knocked over a coffee table. To demonstrate the consequences of carelessness, Debra kicked the table herself, splintering it and gouging the new floor.

Seeking comfort after the fight, Stefan agreed to trade photos with SNICKERZ4U. As he downloaded her photo, it slowly revealed itself to be a middle-aged man masturbating into a sneaker.

Stefan was devastated to learn that Nana had died after a fall at Aunt Patricia’s house. By the weekend, the family gathered at Echo Cottage for a memorial service. A minister emptied Nana’s ashes into a hole in the garden. Afterward, Debra reunited with her three sisters, including the long-estranged Ella. They found comfort telling old family stories and laughing together. That night, Debra told Stefan she believed Nana’s fall was intentional, as she didn’t want to be a burden with her Alzheimer’s. Stefan privately disagreed.

For his 14th birthday, Stefan asked to visit the art museum to see a Monet painting that Nana had loved. At the museum, Debra said her son could be greater than Monet and begged him to try just one semester of high school at home. Stefan pushed back, asking what would happen if he were just a normal kid, not a genius. He proposed a compromise: He would try a few weeks at Shepton High, and if it didn’t work, he’d return to homeschooling. Mom reacted with deep sadness but didn’t explicitly respond.

In the museum café, Debra had pre-ordered a birthday cake for Stefan. She told him their years together had meant everything to her and that the thought of it ending killed her. Stefan felt immense pressure to give in but remained silent, remembering Nana’s note to “Be bold.” Mom took a bite of cake and flinched in pain. She spat out a sharp, bloody shard of glass that was baked into her slice.