Reality Boy

At the PEC Center, a male customer is rude to Hannah. Gerald threatens him and nearly gets into a fight until Beth intervenes. When he takes Hannah home later, she expresses to him, “You scared me” (240). She was frightened by how angry he reacted towards the rude customer, in addition to the bruises he received from the boxing gym. She says that she thinks that they are “soulmates” (243), but his anger issues make her doubt if she can be with him. This frustrates Gerald, who insists that he would never hurt her. Eventually, they reconcile. Gerald asks that they continue moving slowly through their relationship as “This shit scares me” (246).

When Gerald returns home, he finds a note from his parents wishing him a happy birthday and a prepaid gas card worth 300 dollars.

For the taping of the third episode of Network Nanny, the producers want to feature all the families that have appeared on the show to have them speak on how their lives have changed since their episodes aired. Gerald can’t stop thinking about Tasha’s new pillow trick, which involves suffocating him with a pillow until he nearly loses consciousness. When she lifts the pillow, Gerald visits Gersday in his head and remains mute. When the producers interview the family about what has changed, Gerald can’t lie and pretend that everything is fine. When asked how school is going for him, he responds, “School would be better if Tasha wasn’t trying to kill me all the time” (250).

Gerald pretends to be sick to get out of going to school. When his parents leave, he picks up Hannah from her house and brings them to Ashley and Nathan’s place. Once there, they all start talking about a girl on television who called in a bomb threat to the school. Gerald cannot help hallucinating everyone as Disney characters. He feels confused because their place is so peaceful that it begins to feel like Gersday. They spend the rest of the day watching Jaws. Hannah continues her fascination with Ashley and Nathan’s aquarium tank and declares that she wants to be a marine biologist one day. Gerald feels stunned by how supportive Ashley and Nathan are of her dreams.

When Gerald and Hannah part ways, he kisses her for the first time. When he returns home, he finds that Tasha has thrown a party. He takes a picture of the party and sends it to his father who tells him to leave as he is about to call the cops. At his room, Gerald packs and calls Lisi to see if she remembers Tasha trying to drown him when he was younger. Lisi tells him that Tasha tried to drown her as well. It becomes clear that Gerald cannot stay in the house. As he tries to leave, Tasha forces a young girl to kiss him. The young girl turns out to be Jacko’s girlfriend. This angers Jacko, who then attacks Gerald. Tasha laughs in the background.