Zach resents Capricorn Anderson. Not only has Capricorn elevated the eighth grade presidency from a prank into a real position, but even Zach’s close friends seem to be choosing Capricorn over Zach. When Zach heads to his lunch table on Tuesday, he finds Capricorn in “his chair,” a seat that Zach had scoped out in sixth grade and has finally been able to claim this year.

When he finds himself unwelcome at his own table, Zach bumps into Hugh Winkleman and their trays go crashing to the floor. Hugh assumes that Zach is going to beat him up because of the accident; instead, Zach says, “Listen—we’ve got to talk” (125). At first, Hugh resists Zach’s proposal that they work to take Capricorn down a notch. But when Hugh looks over and sees Naomi dab a smear of ketchup off of Capricorn’s face, he gets on board.

Things seem to be going well for Capricorn. He has been using a memory technique that Rain had taught him to memorize the names of students. Additionally, Sophie has been relatively nice to him lately, which he attributes to her upcoming driver’s test and the bangle he sent her in the mail.