On Sunday, Alexa plans to wait for Mum to finish reading the paper before asking her more about Ahmet. She’s so excited, she ends up interrupting Mum’s reading. Mum helps her find Syria in the atlas and offers to help Alexa find Ahmet the perfect gift. Alexa has been worried that Ahmet doesn’t like the candy and fruit she’s been giving him. Mum’s best friend Selma (who used to live in the building) lives in Turkey and loves pomegranates. Mum suggests that they use their Sunday Adventure to find the fruit for Ahmet.

Alexa and Mum spend the day searching for pomegranates. At one store, the shopkeeper is rude to Mum, but Mum doesn’t get upset; she tells Alexa that it’s important not to be mean even if someone is mean to you. Then they visit another series of stores to find the pomegranates.

Just as they’re about to give up hope, they find a shop where the owner helps them after Alexa tells him her story. He gives Alexa two pomegranates—one for her and one for Ahmet—for free because he loves that she wants to help her friend. Outside afterwards, Alexa is so excited about the pomegranates that she barely notices the sky turning gray and the thunder rolling in.

At school, Alexa tells her friends about the pomegranates. She ate hers at home and describes to them the red seeds that look like jewels. She, Josie, Michael, and Tom find Ahmet and give him the other pomegranate. He is so happy that he smiles for the first time, telling them he had pomegranates in Syria.

Suddenly, Brendan swoops in and grabs the fruit, throwing it over Ahmet’s head to his friends. Furious, Ahmet dives on top of Brendan and starts hitting him. Alexa is shocked that Brendan doesn’t fight back. Mr. Irons and Mrs. Sanders race up and stop the fight. Alexa and her friends tell them that Brendan started it. Everyone in the group gets in trouble, but Tom doesn’t care because he thinks Ahmet is going to be popular now that he stood up to Brendan. Alexa worries that Ahmet won’t want to be her friend anymore if he makes friends “with the cool kids” (91).

The next day, Ahmet becomes famous at school. Everyone pesters him with questions about the fight, thrilled that he stood up to Brendan. Ms. Hemsi begs everyone to give Ahmet his space. Alexa is thrilled because Brendan and his friends aren’t bothering Ahmet or her friends anymore.

However, two days later, someone smashes Ahmet’s photosynthesis plant. Then a week later, someone puts a pile of worms into Ahmet’s cubby. Not long after, someone fills Ahmet’s backpack with baked beans. Ahmet bursts out crying when he opens the bag and discovers the mess. Alexa doesn’t understand because Ahmet’s backpack is old and raggedy, but she still feels bad for him. Mrs. Khan confronts the class about the pranks but nobody admits to doing them. Everyone knows “it was Brendan the Bully who had done all these things” (96), but they can’t prove it.

One day, Mrs. Khan tells the class that Ahmet is going to give a presentation about his life. With Ms. Hemsi’s help, Ahmet tells the class about his home and family in Syria, showing them pictures he drew. He had a mom, dad, sister, and cat. They were happy until planes started to bomb their city. Due to the war, Ahmet explains, he and his family fled Syria and walked over mountains until they reached the ocean. They ended up in Greece, where they took boats to a refugee camp in France. After that, Ahmet came to the UK, where he’s safer.

During the presentation, Alexa notices how Ahmet’s drawings change. In some, his sister is missing, and in others, his cat, mom, or dad are missing. She also notices that Ahmet drew himself carrying the same backpack he brings to school; she understands now why it’s so important to him. She’s impressed by how brave Ahmet is for surviving so many difficult things. She hopes she can ask him more questions about his life.

Mrs. Khan lets the class write down questions for Ahmet. Ms. Hemsi chooses three questions from a hat. Alexa is disappointed that her question doesn’t get picked, but she likes hearing Ahmet’s answers to the other questions.

Before dismissal, Mrs. Khan reminds the class not to talk to Ahmet about the war outside of class and to respect his space. Alexa studies Ahmet as they file out of the classroom, wondering if she’d be able to put her life back together if she had a story like his.