Perfect Chapter 4 Summary

Andre

  • Andre's a stud. Girls dig him.
  • His parents expect him to live up to the achievements of his successful black ancestors, but he feels like their dreams are swallowing his own.
  • Still, the money his overachiever parents make is nice. Andre drives a fancy Audi Quattro and wears fancy clothes.
  • He tells us about his grandfather, Andre Marcus Kane Sr., who wanted a big house in Oakland, CA. In order to get one, he became an inventor and got a full scholarship to Cal-Poly.
  • His grandpa became a computer expert and "led the charge into the Silicon Valley" in the 1960s.
  • Because of pressure from Andre Kane Sr., Andre Kane Jr. became an investment banker.
  • Now Andre's dad is a real-estate investor, which means he has enough money to send Andre Kane III to Zephyr Academy, a swanky private high school.
  • Before they moved to Nevada, Andre got into the California street dance scene—he could never tell his dad he wants to be a dancer, though.
  • Andre's gotten into two California colleges, and his dad's pressuring him to pick one. Andre's procrastinating, though, since he's waiting to hear from his first choice: the San Francisco Art Institute.
  • He told his dad he was applying, and his dad flipped out and asked if Andre was gay.
  • He's not gay, but he's into jazz, ballet, modern, and ballroom dance, and he secretly takes lessons from a teacher named Liana.
  • His mom's not into the art school thing either. She's a plastic surgeon who makes big money sucking the fat out of people's thighs and making black women look more like white women.
  • As Andre heads out the door to make the most of his snow day, he says goodbye to his mom, but she's on the phone and doesn't answer.