Chapter 6: Summer School Summary and Analysis

⚠️ Spoiler Warning: This guide contains detailed spoilers for the entire novel. Proceed only if you've finished reading or are comfortable knowing the plot.

Summary

Tolly Driver and Amber Big Plume Dennison sit on the football bleachers after the traumatic events at Deek’s party. Tolly finally admits aloud that he killed Lesley, Shannon, and the others. Amber confirms it, explaining that the locked field house opened for Tolly, engines die when he is near, and dogs instinctively hate slashers. She reveals his real nature: he has been transformed into a slasher, likely infected by Justin Joss’s blood during the pool incident. Tolly resists, but experiments prove he can make knives schting on contact and his color vision fades before a killing spree. Amber devises a plan: she calls Rodrigo to cover for them with Tolly’s mom, then drives Tolly to her barn. There she wraps him in chickenwire and locks him in a cotton stripper basket to prevent him from hurting anyone while she brings food. In the dark, Tolly tests his color perception repeatedly, realizing the world is greying. At the end, Osh Kosh the llama steps up and Tolly sees him clearly in pitch black—terrified that another transformation is beginning.

Key Events

Amber tells Tolly he is a slasher and explains the rules: engines won’t start for him, dogs hate slashers, and only certain victims trigger his attacks.
Tolly recalls the two drops of Justin Joss’s blood that hit his forehead, confirming the infection vector.
They drive past the hardware store where Tolly’s mom is waiting; Tolly refuses to go home, fearing he might kill her.
At the cemetery, Tolly leaves a weatherproofed card for his mother on his father’s grave.
They spot Mr. and Mrs. Joss visiting Justin’s dug-up grave; Amber calls them red herrings.
In Amber’s barn, she reveals she called Rodrigo and her cousin to create a fake story about Tolly seeing a brain doctor in Muleshoe.
Amber improvises a cage using chickenwire from an old rabbit hutch, wraps Tolly in it, and cinches it with one of his mother’s belts.
She locks him inside a cotton stripper basket, tilting a trailer over the hatch.
Tolly, alone in the dark, tests his colorblindness every hundred seconds with a red-handled screwdriver and a striker.
Osh Kosh the llama appears; Tolly sees him clearly in total darkness, signaling an imminent slasher episode.

Character Development

Tolly Driver: Moves from denial to reluctant acceptance. He now understands the mechanics of his affliction—color loss, engine interference, weapon resonance—and begins to fear his own nature. His love for Amber becomes a tether, but he cannot control when the killing urge strikes.

Amber Big Plume Dennison: Emerges as the knowledgeable guide. She has studied slasher movies with her brother and knows the genre tropes (red herrings, final girl). She takes decisive action to contain Tolly, showing bravery and resourcefulness, yet she struggles with the emotional weight of her friend’s transformation.

Tolly’s mother: Remained offscreen, but her absence highlights Amber’s cover story. Tolly’s decision not to see her underscores his fear of harming her.

Lesley Cantor and Shannon Larkweather: Though dead, their backstory emerges. Lesley was forced into repressing his sexuality by his father and uncle, which complicates Tolly’s guilt—he killed someone who was himself a victim.

Justin Joss: His blood infected Tolly; his parents’ appearance at the cemetery reinforces the idea that slasher narratives create red herrings.

Osh Kosh the llama: Acts as a silent witness. His clear visibility in the dark signals Tolly’s slide into the slasher state.

Themes, Symbols, and Motifs

Colorblindness as transformation: Tolly’s ability to see color only when not in slasher mode serves as a built-in warning system. Grey vision = imminent violence.
Chickenwire and cages: Physical containment mirrors the attempt to trap Tolly’s monstrous side. The wire is flimsy but psychologically significant.
Masks: Tolly’s experimentation with his mother’s belts prefigures the slasher mask. The belts both cover his face and restrain him.
Infection through blood: The two drops from Justin Joss transform Tolly, echoing vampiric or viral mechanisms.
High school as genre: Tolly jokes that their “genre” is high school, but Amber insists slasher rules apply—oblivious parents, final girls, and inevitable sequels.

Why This Chapter Matters

Chapter 6 marks the point where Tolly fully accepts he is a slasher. Amber’s exposition lays out the internal logic of the novel’s horror system: the rules about engines, animals, color vision, and weapon resonance. It also plants the idea of a “final girl” (Stace or Mel) and the possibility of hibernation. Tolly’s confinement in the chickenwire cage creates suspense and a ticking clock, as the reader knows he cannot stay restrained forever. The emotional core—Tolly’s love for Amber and his fear of hurting her—drives the story forward.

Study Questions and Answers

1. Why does Tolly refuse to go home to his mother?
He fears that if he encounters her while in a slasher state, he will harm her. The slasher’s rage is indiscriminate, and she might be “in the way.”

2. What evidence does Amber use to convince Tolly he really killed the marching band?
She points to the locked field house that opened for him, the engines that stall near him, the knife that “schtings” when he touches it, and the fact that dogs hate slashers. These small supernatural signs accumulate.

3. Why does Amber call the Joss parents “red herrings”?
In slasher movies, characters who seem suspicious (like the parents of the original killer) often turn out to be innocent. Their presence at the cemetery is a narrative misdirection. Amber knows the genre rule.