Eleanor
- Tina calls Eleanor "Raghead" on the bus, and has lead the charge in having the kids in Eleanor's gym class call her "Bozo." Tina's also calling her "Bloody Mary."
- Eleanor thinks gym class is "an extension of hell, and Tina was definitely a demon" (6.3). She has to wear a gym suit, which is a hellish red and white polyester monstrosity.
- Eleanor gets to her bus seat before "that stupid Asian kid" (6.7)—she still doesn't know his name. She's noticed that he wears cool shoes and is always reading comic books, though.
- Eleanor doesn't read on the bus, because she doesn't want Tina "or anybody else, to catch her with her head down" (6.13).
Park
- Park thinks it's weird to keep sitting next to Eleanor without talking to her, even if she's dressed weirdly. He finds every bus ride agonizing.
- While Park's trying to eat dinner in his room, his little brother Josh reminds him to get ready for his martial arts class. Despite being younger, Josh is already taller than Park and a likely recruit for the football team. Park thinks he could still beat him at taekwondo, but only because Josh doesn't try hard at it.
- Park's dad gets home and pulls his mom into a kiss, which is routine in their house. Because of their size difference, Park compares his parents' kiss to "watching Paul Bunyan make out with one of those It's A Small World dolls" (6.27), since his dad is huge, like his brother. Park seems to take after his smaller Korean mom.
Eleanor
- Dinner happens really early at Eleanor's house now, and she can't get used to it. It's like Eleanor's mom wants the kids "all out of the way before [Richie] came home" (6.31). Her mom also makes Richie a separate, and much better, dinner.
- Eleanor usually stays in her room while her siblings play outside, but she doesn't know what they'll do when it gets too cold to play outside, implying that they all can't be anywhere near their stepdad, or else. She wonders if they'll all hide in the tiny bedroom, and calls it "Diary-of-Anne-Frank crazy" (6.32).
- Eleanor remembers her happiness at her mom's unexpected arrival at her last school—she'd shown up without warning to bring Eleanor home. It wasn't all total joy, however. Eleanor had "pretended not to notice the bruises on her mom's wrist" (6.37).
- Eleanor remembers how she and her siblings used to be allied against Richie, and talk about how much they hated him; she remembers listening to "shouting and crying" (6.48) from her mom and Richie's room.
- When Eleanor gets up to use the bathroom in the middle of the night, Richie is asleep in the living room, leaving Eleanor "too scared to flush the toilet" (6.62). We're quickly learning that Richie is an absolutely terrifying presence in Eleanor's house.