Fangirl Chapter 17 Summary

  • Reagan proves her awesomeness by driving Cath back to the dorm and agreeing not to talk about Levi with Cath or Cath with Levi.
  • Levi calls Cath on Saturday morning, but she doesn't answer, so he calls Reagan, who says Cath is studying and she'll meet him downstairs to go wherever they're going.
  • Cath doesn't return Levi's texts, even the ones asking what happens next in her fanfiction and offering her delicacies from Starbucks.
  • In order to avoid Levi when he comes to her room, Cath starts hanging out at the library.
  • She tries to work on her 10,000-word short story for Fiction-Writing, but she can't seem to get anywhere, so she works on Carry On, Simon instead.
  • Ignoring Levi works for a week, but then Cath comes home one day to find him sitting on Reagan's bed while Reagan does homework.
  • She hadn't expected him to be there; she thought Reagan had to work that night.
  • Cath pretends to get something she needs out of her desk and heads for the library to write with Nick.
  • Levi offers to meet her later to walk her back to the dorm, but Cath says Nick will do it.
  • At the library, she works on Carry On, Simon until Nick arrives. They're collaborating on a story that isn't for class—a love story, no less—just because they like to write together.
  • Cath notices Nick has written five pages of the story in their shared notebook since the last time they met, without consulting her.
  • Rather than telling him that's not cool, though, Cath takes the notebook and rewrites his dialogue.
  • There's not time for her to write a page of her own, because she spends so much time editing his.
  • Nick doesn't walk her home. She enters 911 on the keypad and walks herself home, keeping her finger over the call button just in case.
  • Voice mail transcripts: Cath leaves a message for her dad, telling him she's thinking of coming home that weekend.
  • Her dad calls back and leaves a message saying he'll be at the Gravioli shoot in Tulsa that weekend.
  • Cath, therefore, holes up in the library—hey, at least it's better than holing up in her room, right?
  • She's wearing a Keep Calm and Carry On tee-shirt she got from Etsy, with a picture of Simon and Baz, and a girl comes up to her to ask if she reads Carry On, Simon.
  • The girl proceeds to fangirl over the fangirl—that is, to tell Cath how much she loves Magicath, without having any idea she's actually talking to her.
  • Cath doesn't tell her. She just talks Simon and Baz with a kindred spirit and keeps her identity a secret.
  • More voice mail transcripts: Cath leaves messages. Her dad leaves one at 3:00AM to say he's back from Tulsa, and not to worry, because not worrying is like flying. Cath leaves one and says she worries even more when he calls at 3:00AM and says stuff like that.
  • Back in Fiction-Writing class, it's ten days until the short stories are due. Professor Piper reminds the students that the stories are half their final grade, and they won't get into her advanced class next session unless they get at least a B.
  • That night, Cath cries into her pillow, which no longer smells like Levi's hair.