In Chap­ter Forty of “If These Wings Could Fly,” the pro­tag­o­nist is con­front­ed with a sense of dread as she pre­pares to return home alone after school, fear­ing the immi­nent con­fronta­tion with her father. Her plans to hide at the news­pa­per office are thwart­ed by its clo­sure, leav­ing her vul­ner­a­ble to the sit­u­a­tion she dreads. Just as anx­i­ety begins to dom­i­nate her thoughts, Liam, her sup­port­ive boyfriend, arrives at her lock­er and offers her a thought­ful gift—a phone, which he explains will be use­ful in emer­gen­cies. This ges­ture touch­es her deeply, but it also elic­its fear as she instinc­tive­ly wor­ries about her father’s poten­tial reac­tion if he dis­cov­ers it.

Despite Liam’s insis­tence that she hide the phone well, the pro­tag­o­nist feels that there is no safe place for it. She ulti­mate­ly decides to return the phone to Liam, unable to take the risk of putting her­self and her fam­i­ly in jeop­ardy. This moment illus­trates her inner struggles—while she craves safe­ty, the real­i­ty of her home life makes her wary of accept­ing help.

Their inter­ac­tion is inter­rupt­ed by a tense sit­u­a­tion with Brody, who makes lewd com­ments and attempts to invade her per­son­al space. React­ing instinc­tive­ly, she throws a bas­ket­ball that strikes him in the face, result­ing in an injury and chaos in the gym. Coach Ten­ley con­fronts the sit­u­a­tion, impos­ing a deten­tion on her despite her expla­na­tion of Brody’s behav­ior. Liam stands up for her, con­fronting Brody and defend­ing her hon­or, but the sit­u­a­tion leaves her feel­ing con­flict­ed about her reac­tions.

As they dri­ve home, silence fills the car, thick with unspo­ken emo­tions. The pro­tag­o­nist reflects on the help­less­ness that ampli­fies her fear, even as she tries to reas­sure Liam about her safe­ty and plans. The chap­ter ends with her feel­ing haunt­ed by the bur­dens of her past, ampli­fy­ing her sense of entrap­ment in a dan­ger­ous envi­ron­ment as she steps back into her home, a place that feels more like a prison than a sanc­tu­ary. Her emo­tions reveal the inter­nal con­flict of want­i­ng to escape her cir­cum­stances while rec­og­niz­ing how fear par­a­lyzes her.