Opening
Libby’s highest high and Jack’s worst mistake unfold in quick succession. A soaring dance audition crashes into public humiliation for Libby, while Jack’s prosopagnosia turns a routine pickup into a scene that frightens a child—and his own brother. Both teens retreat into isolation, forced to reckon with who they are and what it will cost to be seen.
What Happens
Chapter 86: Libby’s Tryout
In the cavernous new gym, Libby Strout battles panic as the Damsels captains—including the razor-eyed Caroline Lushamp—watch. Her friends wait in the bleachers, and Jayvee’s shout of “Shine on, you crazy diamond!” snaps Libby into focus. She repeats her mantra—she wasn’t “born for small”—and the first notes of “Flashdance… What a Feeling” lift her.
Libby dances like the room disappears. She fuses with the beat, forgetting her size and the stares until she feels herself expand beyond the gym, beyond town—“universal.” When the music stops, the girls erupt; her friends cheer. She even spots Jack Masselin, splattered with paint from community service, giving her a slow clap and a salute before slipping away.
Then Caroline turns the tryout into an interrogation. After asking Libby’s height, Caroline smilingly demands her weight “for costume sizing,” then presses: “Would you be willing to lose weight if you were wanted?” She floats a number—250 pounds—that slams Libby back to a childhood ballet class where she first learned she didn’t belong. Libby locks eyes with Coach Heather Alpern and says, clear and steady, “Absolutely not.” Shaken but defiant, she calls Aunt Rachel for a ride home—an immediate, painful collision with Self-Acceptance and Body Image.
Chapter 87: The Kidnapping
Jack arrives at Tams’s house to pick up his little brother, Dusty Masselin, and steps into a chaos of ten-year-old boys who look, to him, terrifyingly alike. His prosopagnosia flares; he can’t find Dusty. He calls out. Blank faces stare back. The noise closes in, and Jack feels the trap of his own perception tighten—pure Loneliness and Isolation.
Panicked, he guesses. He grabs a boy with sticking-out ears and copper-brown hair—Jeremy Mervis—and hauls him toward the door. Jeremy fights free, yelling, “Get off me!” At that moment, the real Dusty appears, sees the struggle, and bursts into tears. Another kid hurls “assface” at Jack. Tams’s mom, once welcoming, stares at him like he’s a predator, thrusts Dusty at him, and demands they leave. Jack staggers out, sick with shame. His secret condition has just terrified a child in public and humiliated his brother.
Chapter 88: Merricat
Back in her room, Libby tells her aunt she doesn’t want to talk. She opens Shirley Jackson’s We Have Always Lived in the Castle and lets Merricat’s voice steady her. She recognizes the rage Merricat feels toward the villagers who torment her; Libby remembers wanting the same for people who hurt her, like Moses Hunt.
But Libby draws a line: Merricat poisoned her family. Libby’s “crime” is simply being fat. The contrast clarifies the injustice—she is punished for her body, not her actions. The realization sharpens her resolve and underscores Seeing Beyond Appearances: the world keeps insisting her body is all there is to see.
Chapter 89: The Fallout
In the car, Dusty cries and asks Jack why he tried to kidnap Jeremy—worried not just for himself, but for his standing with friends. Jack’s hands shake as he tries to pass it off as a joke. He begs Dusty not to tell their parents. Dusty agrees, barely.
On the front steps at home, Jack can’t go inside. He replays the terror in Jeremy’s and Dusty’s faces and prays—quietly—for Dusty, for Libby, for anyone bleeding invisibly. When he finally enters, his parents are already on the phone with Tams’s mom and the Mervises. Jack could confess everything—his prosopagnosia, even his dad’s affair—but the truth feels too brittle to say out loud. He apologizes, accepts two weeks’ grounding, a ban on going out, and mandatory sessions with the school counselor. Then he calls both families to apologize, taking all the blame and pleading that Dusty not be punished. He adds a private postscript to his prayer: Don’t let anyone hurt him. Including me.
Chapter 90: Old Times
Alone in her room, Libby slides on her pink toe shoes. The satin summons the girl who stopped going outside, “Libby Strout, America’s Fattest Teen, maybe the World’s Saddest Teen.” The world hums on without her. George the cat—usually aloof—hops up and lightly “pets” her with his claws. The small sting is comfort enough to keep her from disappearing completely.
Character Development
In these chapters, public triumphs snap into private collapses. Both protagonists face intense pressure to disclose or deny their deepest truths, and both step back—momentarily—into old selves.
- Libby Strout: Dances with fearless joy, then refuses to commodify her body to belong. Caroline’s cruelty reopens old wounds, and Libby briefly regresses into isolation, yet her “Absolutely not” marks a firm boundary she didn’t have before.
- Jack Masselin: His secret collides with real-world harm. He can’t confess, which deepens his isolation, but his apologies and prayer show emotional accountability and care for others—even while he’s unable to explain himself.
- Caroline Lushamp: Emerges as a gatekeeper of cruelty, treating human worth as a number on a scale and weaponizing “standards” to exclude.
- Dusty Masselin: Becomes more than Jack’s motivation; he’s a child with his own fears and social world, visibly shaken by his brother’s inexplicable act.
Themes & Symbols
These chapters sharpen the novel’s core concerns. Self-Acceptance and Body Image rises and crashes in Libby’s audition—her art says “yes,” Caroline’s question says “no.” Libby’s refusal to drop pounds “to be wanted” insists that belonging cannot be bought with self-erasure. Meanwhile, Jack’s mistake literalizes the cost of not Seeing Beyond Appearances: he misidentifies a child because his brain can’t register faces, and everyone else misidentifies Jack as dangerous because they can only see the scene, not his condition.
Across both arcs, Loneliness and Isolation expands. Libby’s room becomes a refuge and a trap; Jack’s silence turns his house into hostile territory. Each character must decide whether to return to the world on their own terms—or not at all.
Symbols
- The Toe Shoes: Libby’s pink shoes pull her back to a time when gatekeeping and shame choked her dream, marking a precarious step toward relapse—and a reminder that the dance is still hers.
- “Flashdance… What a Feeling”: An anthem of self-definition that momentarily frees Libby from the gaze of others. The contrast with Caroline’s demand intensifies the novel’s critique of conditional acceptance.
Key Quotes
“Shine on, you crazy diamond!” Jayvee’s cheer names the chapter’s core: Libby’s light is brightest when she claims space. The line catalyzes her shift from fear to performance.
“I wasn’t born for small.” This private mantra crystallizes Libby’s drive. It frames the audition as a refusal of shrinking—physically, socially, emotionally—even before she’s tested.
“Would you be willing to lose weight if you were wanted?” Caroline’s question weaponizes desire and belonging. It reveals the squad as a gate that demands self-denial for entry—precisely what Libby refuses.
“Absolutely not.” Libby’s answer is short, controlled, and revolutionary. She addresses the coach, not Caroline, reclaiming authority and refusing to negotiate her worth.
“Get off me!” Jeremy’s cry captures the raw harm of Jack’s condition when unmanaged: panic becomes danger. The moment explains the parents’ horror while keeping the reader aware of Jack’s unintended culpability.
“Don’t let anyone hurt him. Including me.” Jack’s prayer folds love and fear into one plea. He recognizes that silence can wound—and that protecting Dusty may require telling the truth he dreads.
Why This Matters and Section Significance
These chapters mark the novel’s low point. Libby’s public joy collides with institutionalized body policing; Jack’s private condition explodes into communal fear. The consequences—grounding, counseling, retreat—tighten the story’s grip, pushing each character toward a reckoning. Libby must decide if she’ll keep dancing on her own terms. Jack must decide if he’ll finally name his condition. Both choices steer the novel toward its climax, where being seen—fully, truthfully—becomes the only way forward.