After Jennifer and Carol move into the new cottage, the next-door neighbor, a girl named Michelle, introduces herself to Jennifer. Later, Jennifer sees Michelle and a girl named Lucy playing next door. Jennifer and Carol go out shopping; when they return, Michelle and Lucy come back to invite Jennifer over. Michelle’s house is much brighter and nicer than Jennifer’s. The two girls had buried a dead bird and made a grave in the backyard, and Michelle invites her to come back after lunch once Lucy has gone.

At school, Jennifer sits beside Michelle after she is introduced to the class. She learns that Lucy is in a younger grade and has two older brothers who are obsessed with the military. Jennifer is pleased that she already has a friend and thinks that “this time it was different” than her previous first days of school (133). When she arrives home, she sees Perry leaving and finds her mother in her room with the door locked, complaining of a migraine.

In the morning Jennifer prepares to go on a school trip to the local reservoir, and Carol prepares to go see a photographer for a potential shoot.