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At school on Monday, the sticky notes escalate. Most of them contain harmless sayings or pictures, but some are controversial or downright hurtful. In math class, the teacher catches a girl writing a nasty note. She’s sent to the principal’s office, and Eric decides to keep his own notes in his locker from now on. There are things he wouldn’t mind writing, but it’s not worth getting in trouble, and he isn’t “sure it would do any good anyway” (208).

By lunch, Bench is nowhere to be seen—and Eric starts to worry. He asks the group where Bench is, and Deedee points him out at a table full of football players in uniform. Bench doesn’t look at their table even once, leaving Eric disappointed. Rose shows the group a sticky note she received with a picture of a dead moose. She blows it off, but Wolf is convinced the picture is a threat; the two stare each other down. Though he’s not hungry, Eric gets in line for food to get away from the quiet as it reminds him too much of the quiet in his house before his parents split up. The rest of the day passes in a blur, and Bench isn’t on the bus that afternoon.