- Virginia wakes the next morning in a bed full of Frosted Flakes crumbs; she binged on a box of cereal when she got the news.
- Shannon calls, and stutters a lot when Dr. Shreves answers, but when she gets Virginia on the phone, she offers her support, then reads a quote from a box of Sleepytime tea.
- It's by John Muir, the founder of the Sierra Club.
- The quote: "When we try to pick out anything by itself, we find it hitched to everything in the universe." Shannon says she thinks it means, "no single incident stands by itself."
- Virginia asks if that means Shannon thinks Byron has raped other girls.
- Shannon says no, and deflects by saying maybe she was just out of it from the Sleepytime tea.
- Virginia can't even deal with school that day, but she somehow manages to drag herself there. It's awful, of course, and during third period—French—she walks out the door by herself and goes to Central Park.
- She can't go back home, because Byron's been suspended and is moving back home that day, so after hanging in Central Park for a while, she goes to the movies.
- Seven different movies, as a matter of fact, though she doesn't watch all of them. She just sneaks in and out and downs as much concession stand food as she can stuff in her face.
- When she gets home, it's almost 10:00PM, and her mom and dad have gone out.
- Byron, however, is home; she sees the strip of light under his door.
- Virginia runs to her bedroom and dives under the covers without getting undressed or brushing the popcorn kernels out of her braces.