Words on Bathroom Walls

Fiction | Novel | YA | Published in 2017

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Chapters 15-17Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Chapter 15 Summary

Adam’s mom decides Adam should spend more time with friends outside of school, so Adam starts playing tennis with Dwight on Monday nights. Though Adam’s never played tennis before, he has fun and finds he enjoys spending time with Dwight.

Adam recalls the doctor’s visit when he was diagnosed—specifically, the waiting room. The place still gives him nightmares. He dislikes it because it reminds him that he isn’t suffering alone—his mom has to suffer alongside him. At the end of the chapter, Adam apologizes for this journal entry being such a downer, but he tells the therapist not to despair because “at least you get paid to read it” (116).

Chapter 16 Summary

One day after gym, Adam enters the locker room to find Ian, clad only in a towel, holding Dwight’s clothes outside Dwight’s shower stall. Dwight begs Ian to give the clothes back. Ian tosses them aside and walks off. Adam grabs Ian’s towel off and pushes him “into the hall stark naked” (119). Maya texts later to thank Adam for putting Ian in his place.

Chapter 17 Summary

Chapter 17 consists of one sentence: “My mom is pregnant” (120).

Chapters 15-17 Analysis

The incident in Chapter 16 introduces Ian as a threat. Up until now, Ian was someone Adam disliked. By taking action against Ian to help Dwight, Adam makes himself a target for Ian. From this point forward, Ian will work to uncover Adam’s secrets. Ian being naked and exposed for the entire school to see mirrors how he will later expose Adam’s illness at prom.

The one-sentence long Chapter 17 is a transition between Adam’s life before and after the pregnancy. In Chapter 15, Adam confessed his concern for the effect of his illness on those around him. Up until now, those people were adults capable of making their own choices. The arrival of a baby will inevitably change things: Babies bring more pressure, which will put additional strain on Adam’s family. Making Chapter 17 only one sentence is a dramatic way for the novel to show how important an event this pregnancy is in Adam’s life: Unlike the other things that have happened to him, this one is so dramatically impactful that he cannot verbalize his feelings around it. All he can do is write down the stark fact of the baby’s existence.