Eleanor
- Eleanor arrives home before anyone else in her house, which she's happy about "because she wasn't ready to see them again" (4.1).
- Apparently it was a "freak show" (4.1) when she got home last night, and she'd spent a lot of time thinking about what it would be like when she finally got home. It seems like she's recently been away for a while. Why would a high school kid spend time away from their own family? We're starting to get clues here that Eleanor's home life may hold a lot of secrets.
- When she did get home last night, "it was like her siblings didn't recognize her" (4.3). One of them, Ben, doesn't look in her direction, while another, Maisie, is sitting on her stepfather's lap, which makes Eleanor want to throw up. Mouse is the only one who hugs her.
- Her stepfather ignores her, and the two-year-old "wouldn't remember Eleanor at all"—maybe she's been away for a very long time (4.9). Wow, what's going on here?
- Eleanor is given the top bunk in a tiny room with the rest of her siblings; her three brothers have to sleep on the floor. The house is incredibly small, with only a hanging sheet between the bathroom and kitchen.
- When Eleanor gets home from school, the sight of her mom making soup makes her feel like crying. She thinks about how beautiful her mom is, "like the star of some fairy tale" (4.24). In comparison, Eleanor thinks she herself looks like "her mother through a fish tank" (4.29).
- Eleanor's mom gives her a plastic garbage bag full of Eleanor's possessions, the only things that were saved during their move. Eleanor imagines Richie threw away the rest of it a year ago, "ten seconds after he'd kicked her out" (4.37). So now we know: Her stepdad threw her out for some reason.
- In the bag, Eleanor finds her paper dolls and a few of her books and folders; she wonders where the rest of their old things went. She still hopes "that Richie was just temporary" (4.45).
- She also finds a keepsake—a Fruit of the Month box with art supplies and her Walkman, no batteries, but intact. She has no place to keep anything in this house, not even room for her own clothes, so she hides the bag on a top shelf in the closet.