Home. Work.
- It's been two weeks since school started. The narrator usually eats lunch with Heather. Heather is extremely talkative, so the narrator doesn't have to say much.
- Rachel and the other kids the narrator has known all her school life are still giving her the cold shoulder.
- Kids are often openly aggressive toward her, pushing her around in the hall, grabbing her books, and throwing them on the floor. Maybe they will all get over it one day.
- At home, the narrator finds some money and a note from Mom telling her to order pizza.
- Her mother is the manager of a downtown clothing store called Effert's.
- We learn that the narrator's name is Melinda.
- She eats pizza and watches TV until she hears Dad in the driveway. She goes to her room before he gets in the house.
- Melinda's room is still decorated as it was in the fifth grade. Since Rachel was decorating her room, the other Plane Janes all decorated theirs.
- Even if she felt like redecorating, she doesn't know how she wants it to look.
- She rules out homework. Her bed is calling her for a nap. She must obey.
- She can hear Dad pouring a drink and heating up some pizza in the microwave.
- To let him know she's home, Melinda turns her radio on.
- From her bed, Melinda looks at herself in the mirror across from her and does not like what she sees.
- She wonders if she can make a tree with her face, "like a dryad from Greek mythology" (6.10).
- Her mouth is all chewed up. She can't stop herself from biting her own lips. She doesn't even recognize them anymore.
- She takes the mirror off the wall and puts it in the closet.