Opening
These chapters pull together an unlikely quartet: Willow Chance, a hyper-observant prodigy; Dell Duke, a checked-out counselor; and two siblings who change everything Willow thinks she knows about connection. A runaway cat, a botched counseling plan, and a fierce confrontation spark the first flicker of belonging that Willow has ever felt.
What Happens
Chapter 6: I sat in the airless office/trailer
Back in first person, Willow clinically sizes up Dell during their first counseling session: his round head, sweat, jittery monologue. She says nothing and watches his agitation grow. At home, she hides the appointment from Roberta and Jimmy Chance, erasing messages and hacking her mother’s email—deceit that makes her physically sick.
To break the stalemate, Dell offers a word association game. Willow turns it competitive: “chocolate” becomes “antioxidant,” “dark” becomes “matter,” and she fires off the first 28 digits of pi. Dell blurts, “You animal!” and startles her. She answers, “Lemur,” and he mutters that female lemurs lead the troop. The odd fact dents her low opinion of him. She leaves feeling—strangely—that Dell needs her. That night she tells her parents she’s met someone who “interests” her, describing the session like a clinical trial.
Chapter 7: Dell didn’t see many girls
In Dell’s point of view, he admits he’s built his job on lazy shortcuts. He sorts kids into his “Four Groups of the Strange”—Weirdos, Lone Wolves, Oddballs, Misfits—but Willow doesn’t fit. She’s “Super-Strange” in a way that disarms him. Even his lemur trivia comes from a sleep-aid documentary.
For the first time, he feels “almost inspired.” He opens a color wheel, forges a shiny gold label, and invents a new category just for Willow: GENIUS. This petty act marks a real pivot—away from apathy and toward his own halting Growth and Renewal.
Chapter 8: After I was removed
Branded a cheater, Willow becomes a school outcast. The bright spot: her sessions with Dell, though continuing them means lying at home. On her return, Dell’s office is tidier; a framed lemur stares from his desk. He pushes standardized tests; Willow finishes two in a fraction of the time with perfect scores. Elated, he begs her to come back tomorrow for a surprise.
When she shows up, Dell is gone. Two teenagers sit in his office: a girl who introduces herself as Mai Nguyen and her older brother, Quang-ha Nguyen. Mai says Quang-ha is finishing a coloring assignment and Dell left for a soda. Willow studies Mai’s features, wonders about her heritage, and—unable to filter—asks, “Do you speak Takic?”
Chapter 9: mai & quang-ha
A third-person lens lands on the Nguyens. Fourteen-year-old Mai runs point on life and on Quang-ha, who tests every boundary. Their mother, born Dung and now Pattie Nguyen, is Vietnamese and the daughter of a Black American soldier; Mai and Quang-ha’s absent father is from Mexico. In Bakersfield, they stand out.
Dell, fixated on Willow, had tossed Quang-ha a coloring book and ducked out to fetch his “surprise.” He returns with a pet carrier and barks at Quang-ha to leave. The boy ignores him, coloring steadily. Mai explodes—calling out Dell’s lateness, abandonment, and the audacity of bringing an animal onto campus. Her takedown establishes her authority and sets the stage for Found Family and Community.
Chapter 10: I felt my blood pressure rise
Back in Willow’s voice, she watches Mai’s defense with awe. Dell unveils the surprise: his overweight orange cat, Cheddar, meant to help him bond with Willow. The plan implodes. Cheddar strolls out of the carrier, inspects the dim trailer, then bolts for the parking lot.
Crisis makes a team. For 37 minutes, Willow, Mai, Quang-ha, and Dell fan out to find the cat. They fail—but return bonded. They make “LOST CAT” flyers, and Quang-ha’s perfect sketch reveals a hidden talent. Shoulder-to-shoulder at the copier, Willow feels a new sensation: she’s part of a troop, truly “human,” an early step toward Belonging and Human Connection. On the drive home, she’s buzzing—determined to learn everything about lost cats and Vietnam, a thread tying her to Mai.
Character Development
The group coalesces under pressure, and every character shows a new angle—competence, vulnerability, or grit—that reshapes their orbit around Willow.
- Willow Chance: Moves from detached observer to active participant. Lies to protect her secret sessions, aces tests without fanfare, and discovers how it feels to stand inside a group, not outside it.
- Dell Duke: Shifts from cynical, lazy categorizer to someone “almost inspired.” His GENIUS label is self-serving but realigns him toward effort and responsibility.
- Mai Nguyen: Emerges as protector and strategist. Her command of the room—and Dell—signals natural leadership.
- Quang-ha Nguyen: Presents as sullen and oppositional, yet reveals precision and artistry in his drawing of Cheddar.
Themes & Symbols
These chapters seed a found unit that functions better than any official system around it. The accidental team-up during the search for Cheddar models the logic of Found Family and Community: strangers collide, match skills to need, and create safety through action rather than labels or contracts. Willow’s narration shifts when she feels the troop form around her; the social category she’s never inhabited becomes a lived reality.
Belonging and Human Connection bloom in small, task-based moments—handing out flyers, sharing a copier, reading each other’s cues. Dell’s failed systems, including his “Four Groups,” also foreground Difference and Acceptance: he tries to define Willow from the outside in, then must scrap the framework altogether. The Nguyens’ mixed heritage and resilience push back on simplistic categories, and the group’s cooperation proves acceptance happens through shared purpose.
Symbol: Cheddar the cat turns the counseling office into open ground. His escape erases hierarchy, forces collaboration, and catalyzes intimacy—an orange blur of chance that binds a troop.
Key Quotes
“You animal!” Dell’s startled exclamation breaks through his professional facade and exposes how threatened he feels by Willow’s intellect. The line flips the power dynamic and invites Willow’s lemur reply, which becomes the troop metaphor that frames her later belonging.
“Lemur.” Willow’s response is precise, funny, and revealing. It shows how she translates emotion into taxonomy—and plants the image of a female-led troop that later maps onto Mai’s leadership and the group’s emerging structure.
“Do you speak Takic?” Blunt curiosity isolates Willow socially, but here it also initiates contact. The question signals her hunger to connect through knowledge, even at the risk of awkwardness, and begins her tether to Mai.
“Almost inspired.” Dell’s private confession admits his own stagnation. Willow’s presence jolts him into effort; the phrase marks the first crack in his apathy and the start of a new trajectory.
“Human.” Willow’s description of how the copier moment feels compresses the theme of belonging into a single word. It reframes intelligence as a tool for connection, not just isolation.
Why This Matters and Section Significance
These chapters assemble the core unit that will carry the story forward. A minor emergency exposes character truths—Mai’s guardianship, Quang-ha’s talent, Dell’s bluster and potential, Willow’s aching need to participate—and converts them into a functioning troop.
Narratively, the sequence pivots the book from isolation and systems (tests, categories, accusations) to relationships and improvisation. This new network becomes the scaffolding Willow will need for the trials ahead, making Chapters 6–10 the emotional foundation of the novel’s arc.