Catalyst

The next morning, Kate goes into automatic: She prepares breakfast and makes sure Toby has taken his asthma medications. Her father, who got in late, scours the paper for subjects for his sermon. She reminds her father to bring the MIT acceptance letter to school as soon as it arrives.

As Kate drives to school, she thinks she ought to pray about MIT, but religion doesn’t work for her. Guiltily, she thinks: “Sometimes I wish I did have faith” (20). She thinks about her mother, who she regrets is now more like a “distant aunt, someone who was fun to play with, but forgets to send birthday cards” (22).

When Kate forgets her student ID, the school security guard detains her. She hurries to her AP chem class, which she loves: “If I had my way, I would study chemistry all day” (24). At lunch, Kate notes a lone figure dressed in bulky flannel. It is her neighbor Teri Litch who the other kids consider a misfit. Teri’s family receives government assistance, and she is known for gaining weight back in the ninth grade. The other students call Teri “the ugly girl, the one who smells funny, studies carpentry […], and has fists like sledgehammers” (28). The image of sledgehammers will become significant later in the novel. Teri is a bully and picks on other girls, Kate among them.

Kate sees Mitch Pangborn, her boyfriend. Even though Kate knows he is immature, she obsesses over his looks and the fact that he is a “jeans-creaming phenomenal kisser” (31). He is also high-achieving and has already been accepted into Harvard. They kiss passionately in the cafeteria, but his coffee breath puts off Kate. Some jocks taunt Teri. Before anyone can stop her, Teri swings a thick history textbook at one of the boys, sending his front tooth flying. The jocks swarm Teri. She fights back until school security escorts her out. She cries that they broke her watch.

In English class, which Kate dismisses as a waste of time, the teacher explains the birth of Athena, a mythological Greek goddess. Kate’s mind drifts. She glances out the window and sees her father hurrying through the parking lot. It must be her acceptance letter, she thinks. She is surprised when her father returns to the car and leaves.

The track team scrimmages after school. Kate loves the freedom, the “positive, rhythmic” pace she feels when running cross country. Her glasses are uncomfortable, and she tosses them to the coach. When it starts to rain, Kate takes a wrong turn in the woods and finishes last.

Kate arrives home. The hot water heater is broken, and she can’t shower. She goes next door to the church to help at the weekly chicken-and-biscuits dinner. Before she helps at the serving line, she slips off her mother’s watch. When she returns, she notices that Teri Litch is standing by the kitchen and that her watch is gone. Certain Teri took it, Kate follows her in her car back to Teri’s home, which is next to Kate’s. Kate notices Teri wearing the watch.

When Kate gets out to confront Teri, Teri invites her in to meet her family. Taken aback, Kate follows. The house smells of old food and toys are scattered around the floor. Kate meets Teri’s mother, who watches TV blankly and has a pink scar along her forehead. Kate also meets Teri’s little brother, Mikey, an energetic two-year-old. Kate’s father arrives to check on Mikey’s ear infection, surprising Kate. Apparently, her father had been there the night before as well. Kate accuses Teri of taking her watch. Kate’s father tells her he is there to talk with the mother about Teri’s fight and the watch will have to wait. Kate leaves: She needs to run.