Words on Bathroom Walls

Adam’s mom decides Adam should spend more time with friends outside of school, so Adam starts playing tennis with Dwight on Monday nights. Though Adam’s never played tennis before, he has fun and finds he enjoys spending time with Dwight.

Adam recalls the doctor’s visit when he was diagnosed—specifically, the waiting room. The place still gives him nightmares. He dislikes it because it reminds him that he isn’t suffering alone—his mom has to suffer alongside him. At the end of the chapter, Adam apologizes for this journal entry being such a downer, but he tells the therapist not to despair because “at least you get paid to read it” (116).

One day after gym, Adam enters the locker room to find Ian, clad only in a towel, holding Dwight’s clothes outside Dwight’s shower stall. Dwight begs Ian to give the clothes back. Ian tosses them aside and walks off. Adam grabs Ian’s towel off and pushes him “into the hall stark naked” (119). Maya texts later to thank Adam for putting Ian in his place.

Chapter 17 consists of one sentence: “My mom is pregnant” (120).