Sixteen

Arthur endures a sick, fractured night of sleep, tormented by a recurring dream about tattooing Gwen’s college application onto living skin. He wakes feverish and unsettled but heads to the Rackham Library, not to steal, and hunts through the college bylaws. He confirms that staff families qualify for significant tuition reductions, a discovery that lifts his mood and gives him a concrete way to help Gwen.

That afternoon, Arthur drives through heavy snow to Gogan to find the Underfoot home, getting lost in dark, twisting streets. He stumbles on a sledding hill and unexpectedly meets Gwen and her parents, Martin and Mrs. Underfoot, who are supervising neighborhood sledding.

Arthur and Gwen ride together, share laughter and danger, and then discuss her college applications. Gwen lists affordable state schools and rejects Rackham as elitist and unaffordable, citing her grades. Arthur counters with the bylaw provisions and offers to tutor her in Spanish, insisting her volunteer work matters and challenging her defeatism.

Determined to sway the family, Arthur boldly invites Mrs. Underfoot to sled with him, framing it as a pledge that Gwen will not be hurt by trusting him. Despite initial reluctance, she agrees, and the wild ride bonds them; Mrs. Underfoot screams while Gwen laughs, signaling a fragile acceptance of Arthur’s intentions.

Throughout, Arthur’s buried guilt over Tana flickers—he feels undeserving of Gwen’s open delight and lies by omission about other parts of his life. Yet the chapter closes with a small victory: proof Gwen could attend Rackham and a tentative trust from her mother, setting a hopeful countercurrent against Jayne’s growing pressure.