Absolutely nothing comes out of that whole “huh, you’re burn healed in a suspiciously fast manner, or so I claim because I did no research” incident and we skip right on to Mara complaining about how annoyed she is that her boyfriend has been suspended and her best friend expelled and now school sucks.

At the end of two days, she’s sulking and sketching and Daniel asks if she’s upset because of her grades, which have been posted…online? Somehow? And how does Daniel know what she got? I mean, they’re a fancy private school and putting grades online isn’t a stretch (hell, it’s been a while for me, is that normal nowadays?), but why would Daniel have access to Mara’s grades?

Anyway, Mara failed Spanish class.

Also Daniel wanders off to set up a birthday party for his girlfriend, which they keep talking about so I’m sure it’ll be some sort of something later.

Mara tries to call Jamie to get the recording he made, but can’t get through because he’s grounded. Instead of thinking to call his parents directly (because, c’mon, really?) she smashes her phone against the wall.

Well, okay, she’s upset, maybe she’ll think to call his parents later.

And then she spends the rest of the chapter stewing in self-pity and…actively convincing herself that there’s nothing she could do. Talks herself out of trying valid options and everything. Annoying, but fairly realistic, too.

The next morning, she somehow manages to wake up very early and then black-out/space-out all morning until she’s nearly late for school. Kind of an interesting scene showing her as not-all-there, but also out of place and peters off into nothing.

Turns out Noah isn’t at school. Mara goes to see the principle to talk about her grade.

[Dr. Khan] looked as undoctorly as it was possible to look, wearing khaki pants and a white polo shirt emblazoned with the Croyden crest.

…?????? I don’t get it.

Anyway, Dr. Khan says that he won’t change Mara’s grade because she wasn’t failed for getting anything wrong, but rather failed for cheating. Morales made a bunch of unsubstantiated claims that, even by her own story, are pretty circumstantial.

This book is so weird. Like, I can see what it wants to do, but then the processes that it picks are just…so blatantly out of touch. Yes, I can imagine a teacher lying about a student cheating. Yes, I can believe a school siding with a teacher instead of a student because the administration “knows” the teacher better and thus believes them. But there has to be more going into the story than just “Well, she said so.” Schools, especially ones that cater to the children of the rich and powerful, have to protect themselves, and that means they need a paper trail and proof and history and pattern of behavior, etc. This might fly in a different school, or if the book had bothered to establish corruption at Croyden, or if Morales had put literally any more effort into this deception at all, but as is? It sounds like a tall tale that a pissed off teenager would tell on the internet.

Dr. Khan tries to make the argument that Mara is untrustworthy because… she was tardy a few times, and got in a row with the very teacher who then accused her of cheating without any proof.

Who would you believe?

You’re a really terrible administrator and I’m surprised one of these parents hasn’t sued you yet.

“Just—just listen. There’s a recording of my exam. I’ll get someone to translate it. We’ll play it. Ms. Morales can—”

“Also the recording will prove that she asked me a question that wasn’t even on the study guide, so her claim that I had something written on my arm and was looking at it while answering becomes very suspect.” Oh, not going to bring that up? Okay, then.

Mara leaves the office spittin’ mad and imagining Morales dead as a doornail. When she gets to the classroom she hallucinates the dead body of Jude, then the body of the dog abuser, then Morales, except dead Morales is actually real. Dun dun dun.