Chapter 27: The Question That Won't Go Away
⚠️ 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
The chapter opens with Imogen jolted awake by the persistent thought: “Unless it’s not just one girl.” She tries to push the idea away, comparing it to a friend who picked up a fake accent after a trip. Imogen insists her past attractions to girls—like Clea DuVall, Nisha, and the “le dollar bean girl”—aren’t real crushes because, she claims, she knows what attraction feels like. Yet she admits the feeling is different from friendship, more like a “tiny pull.” While dressing, she notices her habit of sitting pretzel-style, which she now wonders is a bisexual stereotype (like cuffed jeans and the song “Sweater Weather”). She tries to treat her confusion like academic research, planning a quick online search to “rule it out and be done with it.”
Key Events
- Imogen wakes up with the recurring thought “Unless it’s not just one girl.”
- She mentally reviews a list of girls she’s felt drawn to over the years.
- She rationalizes the pattern as role-play or appropriation, not genuine attraction.
- She notices her own body language (sitting pretzel-style) and connects it to bi stereotypes.
- She decides to investigate her feelings online, treating it as a research task.
Character Development
Imogen spends this entire chapter inside her own head, wrestling with a question she has avoided. Her usual strategy—denial and rationalization—starts to crack as she acknowledges that the feeling is “not not about kissing.” The scene shows her moving from outright rejection of the possibility toward a reluctant, methodical curiosity. This is a key step in her self-awareness, even if she still frames it as something to “rule out.”
Characters referenced but not present: Lili, Tessa, Gretchen (as a comparison for cultural appropriation of an accent).
Themes, Symbols, or Motifs
Compulsory heterosexuality is the central theme: Imogen’s conviction that because she doesn’t “get crushes on girls,” any attraction must be a fluke or imitation. Queer coding appears in the details she lists—lemon squares, cuffed jeans, the song “Sweater Weather”—which signal bi identity in online spaces. The bedroom poster wall and daybreak setting symbolize the beginning of a slow, internal awakening. Her pretzel-legged sitting becomes a physical reminder that she may have been performing queer stereotypes without realizing it.
Why This Chapter Matters
This is the chapter where Imogen stops dismissing her feelings and begins to examine them, even though she still uses the language of “research” to keep a safe distance. It sets up the internal tension that will drive the rest of the story: her head says she is straight; her memories suggest otherwise. Readers get a clear map of the self-doubt and denial that many questioning people experience, making the story resonate beyond Imogen’s specific situation.
Study Questions and Answers
1. Why does Imogen compare her attraction to girls to a friend’s fake Edinburgh accent? She uses the analogy to convince herself that her feelings are just a temporary imitation of the “cool queer friends” she’s been spending time with. By equating it to method acting, she reinforces her belief that it isn’t real.
2. What clue suggests Imogen is becoming more open to the idea that she might be bisexual? She admits the feeling is “not not about kissing” and notices that her default sitting posture matches a stereotype of bisexual people. These small admissions show she is shifting from denial toward cautious exploration.
3. What is ironic about Imogen’s plan to do “academic research” on her feelings? She intends to research only to rule out bisexuality so she can move on, but the act of researching implies that she is taking the possibility seriously for the first time. The goal of disproving may actually lead her to confirmation.