Chapter 9 Summary

When they get home from the gym, Willie goes straight to bed, but for the second night in row, he cannot sleep. He goes downstairs at 3 a.m. to get warm milk. He overhears his parents arguing about him. He hears, for the first time, his mother's rage at Big Will for the way he is treating Willie and his dad's guilt over panicking when the accident happened. Every time his father looks at Willie, he is reminded of his guilt; he sometimes wishes Willie had died.

The next day at school, Willie decides to go tell Coach Williams that he is going to drop the team manager job. He cannot pretend anymore to be okay hanging around with athletes. On his way to the gym, Willie runs into Jenny and a boy named Jeff, and he sees that they are both startled...