In Philosophical Ethics, Professor Pamela Tolbert announces that most of the class performed badly on the midterm and offers a makeup exam, with the two grades to be averaged. Hannah Wells is stunned that she earned an A, while her classmate Nell and many others did poorly. As Hannah listens, she fixates on Justin Kohl, a football player she has secretly admired, and her thoughts reveal that she has only seriously wanted two men since being raped five years earlier.

After class, Hannah talks briefly with Nell, agrees to email her a copy of the exam answers, and lingers under the pretense of checking her tutorial schedule. Justin turns when he hears her voice, and the two share their first moment of acknowledgment when Hannah nods and Justin smiles back. The small exchange feels like a meaningful victory to Hannah, who is trying to rebuild confidence around attraction and dating by taking the "baby steps" once encouraged by her therapist.

The perspective then shifts to Garrett Graham, Briar's star hockey captain, who is furious that he failed the same midterm. Because Briar requires athletes to maintain their grades, Garrett realizes that his low marks in ethics and Spanish history have dropped his average close to the point where he could lose his ability to play hockey. He stays behind brooding, notices Hannah for the first time, and watches her as she leaves the lecture hall.

When Hannah drops her books near the door, Garrett helps pick them up and sees her A grade. Realizing she understands exactly what Tolbert wants, he immediately asks to read her answers and then asks Hannah to tutor him, even offering to pay. Hannah refuses because she is already overwhelmed with school, work, and rehearsals for a high-stakes winter music showcase, and she is also plainly unimpressed by Garrett's usual charm. Garrett is left frustrated and still desperate, while the chapter establishes the first real interaction between Hannah and Garrett and sets up the academic problem that will connect them.