Summary

In Chapter 5, Chase spends the next couple weeks trying to figure out whether he is popular because people like him or hate him. When a girl runs away from him in fear, he asks Aaron and Bear what the deal is. They tell him they were all sentenced to community service after putting cherry bombs in Joel’s piano at open house. They tell him it was no big deal, but the adults are out to get them. Chase gets mad at his mom for not telling him, and begins to worry that his dad, who claims his mom is a coddler, is right. Chase goes home and confronts her, and she tells him she did not want to upset him after his injury with a collection of horrible stories. He does not know whether he should believe her or his friends.

In...