Summary

Lucy arrives at Manhattan Academy, a public school, to play a basketball game. The team she is playing is substantially more skilled than what she is used to. Lucy plays her best, but her team is quickly in a point deficit. During the game, she recalls her school guidance counselor telling her that she would have a hard time getting accepted into the colleges she wanted to attend. She sees Percy arrive with her mother. He sits next to Lauren Moon in the stands (the girl whose scar Lucy had previously mentioned admiring). As her team continues to struggle, Lucy falls deeper and deeper into a general despair. Suddenly, she is struck in the face accidentally by a player on the other team.

She goes to the restroom to clean herself up, then leaves the school without telling anyone. Percy trails her and...