Schooled

Sophie is thrilled when her absentee father shows up and promises to stay around for a few months. However, when he takes her for a driving lesson, she notices that he is not as patient as Capricorn. Unfortunately, though, it’s now too risky to drive with Capricorn, since he has been arrested for driving the school bus without a license.

Sophie’s dad is shocked when he sees Capricorn practicing Tai Chi in the yard, saying, “God bless America! […] That’s the stray your mother brought home?” (86). Sophie’s dad puts his salesman skills to use and strikes up a conversation with Capricorn.

Afterwards, Sophie’s dad presents her with a very belated birthday gift: a silver bangle with multi-colored stones. However, instead of letting her try it on, Sophie’s dad tells her that he needs to get in engraved. Capricorn stares at the bracelet, thinking that it’s beautiful.

Capricorn is making progress in memorizing the names of the 1,100-member student body. He is now at 129. Capricorn wishes that he could talk to Rain more often. There is so much he does not understand about life at school. For example, it does not make sense to him that the students seem more interested in how he drove the bus than Mr.