In Chap­ter Sev­en­teen of *If These Wings Could Fly*, the atmos­phere in Leighton’s home is tense fol­low­ing a series of prob­lems, includ­ing fam­i­ly argu­ments and a lost con­struc­tion bid. Leighton finds her­self over­whelmed, jug­gling a mas­sive stack of papers relat­ed to crow myths from var­i­ous cul­tures that she’s been print­ing due to issues with the news­pa­per room print­er. As she nav­i­gates the busy space, she acci­den­tal­ly col­lides with Liam, a fel­low stu­dent, caus­ing her papers to scat­ter.

Their inter­ac­tion reveals a grow­ing famil­iar­i­ty between them; they exchange play­ful ban­ter about each oth­er’s com­mit­ments and pres­sures, high­light­ing the inten­si­ty of their respec­tive lives as they pur­sue aca­d­e­m­ic and extracur­ric­u­lar goals. Liam express­es admi­ra­tion for Leighton’s writ­ing, which she ini­tial­ly brush­es off as flat­tery, but he insists it’s gen­uine. Their exchange cap­tures a moment where friend­ship seems to deep­en, and Leighton allows her­self to day­dream about a roman­tic con­nec­tion.

As they arrive at the news­room, Liam sur­pris­es Leighton by offer­ing an open line for con­ver­sa­tion, a pro­pos­al to lis­ten if she ever feels the need to talk. This moment brings on a wave of emo­tions for Leighton, com­pelling her to con­front her feel­ings. In a moment of vul­ner­a­bil­i­ty, she admits to lik­ing Liam under dif­fer­ent cir­cum­stances but explains the com­plex­i­ty of her life with her sis­ters, indi­cat­ing her sig­nif­i­cant respon­si­bil­i­ties that pre­vent her from pur­su­ing a rela­tion­ship right now.

Their con­ver­sa­tion brings Liam to rec­i­p­ro­cate, shar­ing his own expe­ri­ences with fam­i­ly, yet Leighton feels the weight of her respon­si­bil­i­ties heav­i­ly on her. She grap­ples with the strong pull of emo­tions, want­i­ng to say yes to Liam but ulti­mate­ly pri­or­i­tiz­ing her famil­ial oblig­a­tions over her feel­ings. The chap­ter ends with a poignant reminder of Leighton’s com­mit­ment to her fam­i­ly, sig­nal­ing an inner con­flict between per­son­al desires and her role as a care­giv­er.

In Chap­ter Sev­en­teen of “The Choco­late War,” the ten­sion builds dur­ing a roll call in the class­room, where the stu­dents’ choco­late sales respons­es reveal the weight of an ongo­ing assign­ment. The Goober, impa­tient­ly await­ing Jer­ry Renault’s turn, is acute­ly aware of Jer­ry’s inter­nal strug­gle due to his refusal to sell choco­lates as part of a Vig­il assign­ment. This refusal has affect­ed Jerry’s life sig­nif­i­cant­ly, even his per­for­mance in foot­ball, prompt­ing con­cern from their coach. Despite their lim­it­ed com­mu­ni­ca­tion, the Goober knows that Jer­ry plans to end the assign­ment tomor­row.

As Broth­er Leon, the teacher, con­ducts the roll call with an uplift­ing demeanor, the class­room reflects his moods. He checks off stu­dents’ choco­late sales, and a rhyth­mic chant echoes through the class­room. How­ev­er, as the roll pro­gress­es and ten­sion mounts, the atmos­phere shifts when Par­men­tier’s turn arrives. The weight of antic­i­pa­tion hangs heavy as Broth­er Leon calls for Renault. In a moment that feels sus­pend­ed in time, Jer­ry responds with a defin­i­tive “No!” when asked about sell­ing choco­lates.

The Goober’s per­spec­tive empha­sizes the enor­mi­ty of Jerry’s deci­sion, por­tray­ing a sense of dis­be­lief and shock as the class­room col­lec­tive­ly process­es the moment. Broth­er Leon, equal­ly stunned, attempts to regain con­trol, but Jer­ry stands firm in his refusal. This piv­otal moment cre­ates an atmos­phere of pro­found silence, sig­ni­fy­ing a poten­tial turn­ing point not only in Jerry’s per­son­al strug­gle but also in the dynam­ics with­in the class­room, high­light­ing themes of rebel­lion and courage in the face of pres­sure. The chap­ter encap­su­lates the emo­tions of rebel­lion against con­for­mi­ty, under­scor­ing Jer­ry’s resolve to resist the expect­ed norms, thus alter­ing the land­scape of his rela­tion­ships with peers and author­i­ty fig­ures alike.