Content Warning: This section contains references to teen alcohol abuse and alcohol poisoning.

Cath agrees to try one more semester even though she still has to register for classes and deal with her missed finals. She and Reagan go to a back-to-school luau. Cath tells Reagan about her mother leaving when they were eight, and Reagan tells Cath that she missed her over break.

Cath’s semester grades are listed as “Incomplete.” She takes her psychology final and goes to talk to Piper. She tells Piper that even though her father was in the hospital during finals, she does not want to be a fiction writer. She feels comforted by writing fanfiction but lost when writing original fiction. Piper pushes back, telling her that she is talented but cannot “do anything with fanfiction” (262).

Piper asks if she helped Nick with his final. She says she could “hear” Cath’s writing in the good parts of Nick’s work. She agrees to let Cath keep the Incomplete, which will give her the whole semester to write her final project if she meets with Piper regularly to check in.

Levi is waiting outside her dorm. He tells her their kiss wasn’t “just a kiss” like the other one was.