Chapter 2 Summary

⚠️ 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 Stevie alone in her room at Ellingham Academy, eating a piece of chocolate cake that turns out to be maple-flavored—an inescapable fact of life in Vermont, where maple syrup finds its way into everything. She is supposed to be reading an assigned text, Defining Bias: How We Interpret What We Read, but she cannot get past the first paragraph. Her attention drifts to the heat clanging through the radiator, the rosette on the ceiling, and the phone she deliberately placed out of reach.

Stevie's mind wanders to her appearance. She examines her hair, which she meant to cut over the summer but never did, and considers giving herself bangs—a plan Janelle has already thwarted by confiscating her scissors. She experiments with a tube of highlighter makeup Janelle gave her, applying it to her cheekbones, but it comes out sticky and leaves shiny lines under her eyes. She thinks about watching a tutorial video, then about using nail clippers as a substitute for scissors.

The real source of her distraction is David. He is in London for his first semester of college, and the five-hour time difference means their long daily calls happen between six and eight in the evening, leaving Stevie with the rest of her night to stare at her friends and accomplish nothing. She hates being the person with the long-distance boyfriend, but she doesn't know how to stop it. Her brain, she reflects, has only two modes: fog and frenzy. It won't do real work until panic reaches a white-hot pitch.

David calls late, slightly drunk—he admits to having had several beers, revising the count upward as he talks. Stevie's stomach clenches at the thought that he might be calling to break up with her, but instead he makes an unexpected proposal: she should come to England. He has been talking to the people who brought him there, and they connected him with someone at the American embassy who works in educational tourism. That contact has arranged for up to four rooms in a building connected to David's for a week or ten days. David suggests they frame the trip as study abroad, with the embassy contact available to back them up if the school asks questions.

Stevie is stunned. She protests that she can't go—school, life, something—but David insists. He points out she can get a passport, and he reminds her that she wouldn't be staying in his building, but nearby. He knows the trip would only work if her friends come too, so he's arranged rooms for Nate, Janelle, and Vi as well.

Stevie doesn't precisely rip Janelle's door off its hinges, but she comes close. Janelle calls Vi while Stevie runs down the hall to rattle Nate's doorknob until he answers. Everyone wants to go to England.

The next morning, Stevie wakes assuming the whole conversation was a dream, but David has left multiple messages: a name, an email, a phone number, and the address of a building in London. The offer is real, backed by a genuine person at the American embassy.

Stevie spends every spare moment between classes, lab, and yoga researching flights and passport requirements. She has money from her summer work with Carson, who runs a company called Box Box and hired her to go undercover at a summer camp to help solve a cold case. Carson paid her decently and advanced her money while he put together a podcast about the case. It's not a fortune, but it's enough for a plane ticket and pocket cash for food.

That evening, over dinner in the dining hall (maple-glazed pork with mashed sweet potatoes), the four friends set about creating their pitch to Ellingham. They have an advantage: after the murders at the school, Ellingham embraced remote learning. Students can now join classes remotely, travel home, or do projects elsewhere, so the school is more flexible than it used to be.

It takes about four hours and many cups of coffee, but by midnight they have hammered out a legitimate-looking case: a detailed day-by-day schedule in spreadsheet format, listing cultural and historical locations of interest, what they intend to do there, and how it relates to their individual academic goals. They email the plan to Dr. Quinn, the head of school.

She replies within ten minutes to everyone: My office. Tomorrow. Six p.m.

Stevie is going to England—maybe. If Dr. Quinn says it's okay. Which is not a guarantee, because of things like the murders and Stevie's propensity to get involved in them. She just needs a yes.

Key Events

Stevie struggles to read an assigned text on bias, distracted by her appearance and her long-distance relationship with David.
David calls late, slightly drunk, and proposes that Stevie and her friends come to England for a week or ten days.
He has arranged up to four rooms in a building connected to his own and an embassy contact in educational tourism to frame the trip as study abroad.
Stevie immediately tells Janelle and Nate; Janelle calls Vi, and everyone agrees to go.
The next morning, Stevie confirms the offer is real through messages from David containing a name, email, phone number, and London address.
Stevie researches flights and passport requirements, using money she earned from her summer work with Carson on the Box in the Woods case.
The four friends spend four hours crafting a detailed itinerary and pitch to Ellingham, then email it to Dr. Quinn.
Dr. Quinn replies within minutes, summoning them to her office the next day at six p.m., leaving the trip's approval uncertain.

Character Development

Stevie is shown in a vulnerable, domestic light in this chapter. She is self-conscious about her appearance, unsure how to apply makeup, and reliant on Janelle for style advice. Her procrastination is laid bare: she cannot read the first paragraph of her assignment, and she knows her brain only works in fog or frenzy mode. Yet she is also capable of decisive action when motivated—she immediately rallies her friends, spends the next day researching logistics, and throws herself into building the pitch. Her fear that David might be calling to break up with her reveals her insecurity about the relationship, while her relief and excitement at his proposal show how much she misses him.

David is presented as a reformed reprobate. The chapter recounts his past at Ellingham—sleeping on the roof, screaming meditations at five a.m., releasing squirrels in the library—and his transformation after being removed from school: he finished remotely with high grades, worked registering voters over the summer, and now rarely drinks. His slightly drunk state in this chapter is notable because it's out of character for his current sober lifestyle, and it's in this state that he makes the impulsive, generous offer that sets the plot in motion. He knows Stevie well enough to anticipate that she'll want her friends to come, and he's arranged rooms for all of them.

Janelle, Nate, and Vi are shown as loyal friends who immediately agree to the trip. Janelle's role as Stevie's style advisor is established, and Nate's earlier comment about Stevie becoming