In October, a new girl transfers to Zenger High School. Scott notices Lee in his homeroom due to her appearance: She has safety pins in her face and green hair. At lunch, she sits with the popular girls even though they glare at her. Scott runs for the student council because Julia is running as well. Meanwhile, Wesley Cobble takes Mouth’s lunch money, so Scott buys Mouth’s lunch that day. When Mouth later tries to sit at their lunch table, Kyle tells him that all the seats are taken. Mouth tells Scott he doesn’t have time to sit because he needs to work on his speech for the student council election anyway. 

In his journal, Scott discloses that he didn’t like to read until he was in the hospital for a broken arm in fifth grade. He shared the hospital room with another boy, Tobie, who gave him a book to read. Although Scott didn’t read the book, he pretended he did so Tobie would be happy. After Tobie died, his parents sent Scott a box of Tobie’s books. Feeling guilty, Scott read every one of the books in the box and developed a love of reading.