Hearts Unbroken

Louise compliments Hughie’s singing of “If I Only Had a Heart.” He responds “Yvhiketv cvyace tos (I like to sing)” (64). Auditions are the next day, and the teacher-director plans to cast inclusively. Hughie tells Louise that a senior, Garrett Ferguson, is competing for the role of Tin Man. He also tells her that senior student Chelsea, “a pretty Black girl with a powerhouse voice” (63) will surely get the role of Dorothy. Louise says Hughie must like Chelsea a lot from the way he speaks of her, to which Hughie replies that Louise talks about Joey “all the time” (65). Louise rejects this idea until she checks with Shelby, who confirms that Louise does talk about him a lot. 

Shelby takes Louise to a nail salon for Louise’s 18th birthday. Louise shows Shelby pictures of the dachshund puppies, Bilbo and Frodo, that she (Louise) gave her family in celebration of her birthday. Shelby asks if Louise has been angry with her, and Louise realizes that because Shelby’s schedule is tighter than hers, Louise should be the one to “make time when she [Shelby] was available” (68). Louise gets the idea to feature Shelby and other working students in the paper.

Mr. McCloud leads the AP Government class in a discussion on September 11, recalling the events of terrorism that day in 2001. Brandon Delaney comments that the “entire Middle East” should be “nuked” (70) without regard for innocent civilians to remove terrorists. The teacher asks Brandon about white Christian American terrorism, but Brandon dismisses it as non-existent. Joey mentions the KKK, and Louise mentions the bombing of the Oklahoma City Murrah Federal Building. Mr. McCloud tells Brandon to research the Oklahoma City bombers, and “then decide whether you deserve to get nuked for their act of terrorism” (72).

Hughie gets a callback audition for the musical. At a Friday night football game, Louise and Hughie sit on the opponent’s side. Joey texts to ask, “Did you defect?” (74). After consulting with her second cousin Rain, Louise asks Joey to join them for pizza after the game. Joey, however, does not reply until the early morning. Sleeping over at Rain’s house, Louise wakes in the early morning and joins Rain on the porch. Rain’s mother is deceased, and her father is stationed in Guam. Rain lives with her brother and sister-in-law. She and Louise “share Muscogee-Cherokee heritage” (76) along with Ojibwe, Chippewa, Irish, and Scottish ancestry. Rain is a talented and artistic photographer. She suggests Louise consider a feature “on how people talk […] How girls can get called a slut for anything, for nothing, and people will repeat it, too. Post it all over online” (77). Louise thinks Rain might be referring to a personal situation but does not ask for clarification.

Louise interviews Dylan Shuster for her feature on working students. He clerks at the Phillips 66 gas station where Louise caught a ride with Peter Ney. Dylan tells her he likes working because he can do his homework while earning money. He gives half his earnings to his parents. Louise asks if his parents know he is being interviewed for the newspaper, and Dylan tells her, “My folks said to speak my mind. Too many people think that nobody in East Hannesburg is hurting for money” (81). Louise wonders if she paid Dylan much attention in the summer. While they talk, Dylan grows nervous that a customer might be preparing to rob the store, as happened two times in the last six months, but it proves to be a false alarm. 

In Journalism, Karishma and Daniel argue over a sports story. Alexis works on an ACT article. Emily, a bold and brash nonconformist with “a total potty mouth” and “a lot of attitude” (84) who writes the Arts and Entertainment section, leaves the class to see if Mrs. Qualey posted the cast list. She invites Louise along and asks about the bullying feature Louise pitched again to Karishma. Emily thinks a friend of hers, Becs, might talk to Louise for an article on sexual bullying. Emily tells Louise that Cam has been saying he called their relationship off because Louise was “a crazy nympho” (88). Louise is furious. Emily tells her that no one believes Cam. Louise discovers that Hughie got the role of Tin Man.