Everneath Chapter 2 Summary

  • In the now: Nikki looks for a quiet place to eat lunch.
  • Really, what Nikki wants is to go home, but she promised her dad that she would finish out the day at school. And since she'd left her dad in the middle of an argument before disappearing for six months, she wants to do better by him this time.
  • Last year, Nikki had counted the days to the homecoming game… but this year, she's not going to be wishing away time.
  • In the past (around Homecoming): The Park City Miners beat their rivals, Wasatch, and so their team gets to take home the Boulder as a status symbol.
  • Jack sweeps up Nikki into a kiss, before his team sweeps him away to celebrate the victory.
  • In the now: Nikki knits in her little hidden lunch nook. Her former best friend, Jules, finds her. They have a brief but awkward conversation—it seems like Jules believes the rumor that Nikki's been in rehab.
  • After school that day, Nikki's dad introduces her to a woman named Mrs. Ellingson, who asks Nikki to pee in a cup (for a drug test).
  • That night, Nikki's dad calls her into his study. There are lots of pictures around, showing things like his inauguration as mayor of Park City. There are not, however, a lot of pictures of his dead wife, a.k.a. Nikki's mom.
  • Nikki asks how the campaign for his reelection is going. Apparently it's going okay.
  • Nikki's dad says he wants to discuss expectations now that she's back. He tells her that he expects her to attend school daily and keep up her studies, to submit to random testing by Mrs. Ellingson, and to do community service at a soup kitchen.
  • Nikki agrees to everything, but when her dad asks what she expects from him, she says nothing. They say goodnight.
  • It looks like Nikki's little brother, Tommy, is asleep, so she goes to her room.
  • When she arrives, Cole is there.