Chap­ter 26 of If These Wings Could Fly delves into the protagonist’s evolv­ing dai­ly rou­tine, which cen­ters around the com­fort she finds in the morn­ings, par­tic­u­lar­ly in her inter­ac­tions with Liam. Every day, he dri­ves her to school, and this small but con­sis­tent rit­u­al becomes a wel­come part of her life, offer­ing her some­thing to look for­ward to amid the anx­i­ety she feels about the crawl space at night. Their rela­tion­ship remains friend­ly and uncom­pli­cat­ed, full of shared con­ver­sa­tions and laugh­ter, but devoid of any phys­i­cal inti­ma­cy. This rou­tine serves as a steady anchor in her life, pro­vid­ing a sem­blance of nor­mal­cy in a world that often feels uncer­tain and unset­tling. Liam’s pres­ence becomes a calm­ing influ­ence, and the sim­ple act of dri­ving to school togeth­er allows the pro­tag­o­nist to start her day on a pos­i­tive note, dis­tract­ing her from the deep­er, more press­ing fears that lurk in the back of her mind.

On a typ­i­cal Fri­day morn­ing, as the two pre­pare for their lit­er­a­ture exam, a play­ful exchange reveals Liam’s fatigue from foot­ball prac­tice and show­cas­es the ease with which they com­mu­ni­cate. As they dis­cuss their plans for the day, the pro­tag­o­nist offers him hot choco­late, while she her­self opts for cof­fee, high­light­ing the dif­fer­ences in their pref­er­ences. This small act empha­sizes the devel­op­ing close­ness between them, as they share per­son­al likes and dis­likes. Their con­ver­sa­tion flows nat­u­ral­ly, and the sub­ject of music comes up—when a Guns N’ Ros­es song begins to play, the pro­tag­o­nist, unable to enjoy it, prompt­ly turns it off. This moment reflects her grow­ing com­fort in express­ing her opin­ions, show­ing how their friend­ship is evolv­ing into some­thing where both indi­vid­u­als feel free to be them­selves. The lit­tle moments of con­sid­er­a­tion, like turn­ing off music that doesn’t sit right, sig­nal the trust and under­stand­ing devel­op­ing between them.

As the day pro­gress­es, the pro­tag­o­nist finds her­self delv­ing deep­er into her thoughts dur­ing the exam, but it’s in her con­ver­sa­tion with Liam that she expe­ri­ences a more mean­ing­ful exchange. The pro­tag­o­nist quizzes Liam on their sum­mer read­ing assign­ment, focus­ing on Tess of the d’Urbervilles by Thomas Hardy, and as they explore its themes of social class and gen­der dynam­ics, she is struck by Liam’s thought­ful respons­es. To her sur­prise, he demon­strates a more nuanced under­stand­ing of soci­etal issues than she ini­tial­ly expect­ed, acknowl­edg­ing the con­tin­ued rel­e­vance of issues like harass­ment and dis­crim­i­na­tion. Liam’s per­spec­tive sur­pris­es her, par­tic­u­lar­ly giv­en that he’s much younger, yet his insight into these com­plex sub­jects indi­cates a lev­el of matu­ri­ty that defies his age. This exchange becomes a turn­ing point in their rela­tion­ship, as the pro­tag­o­nist sees Liam not just as a friend but as some­one capa­ble of con­tribut­ing mean­ing­ful­ly to dis­cus­sions about social issues, deep­en­ing her respect for him.

The con­ver­sa­tion takes a more seri­ous turn as they dis­cuss women’s roles in soci­ety and the con­se­quences of chal­leng­ing soci­etal norms. The pro­tag­o­nist express­es her con­cerns about the dan­gers that women face when they speak out against injus­tices, espe­cial­ly those relat­ed to gen­der inequal­i­ty. She shares her aspi­ra­tion of becom­ing a reporter one day, with the hope of shed­ding light on these painful truths and using her voice to expose hid­den injus­tices. This con­ver­sa­tion not only strength­ens their bond but also reveals the protagonist’s deep desire to bring atten­tion to the strug­gles faced by women. She reflects on how voic­ing dis­sent can be a pow­er­ful act, yet it also car­ries a heavy bur­den, one that she feels com­pelled to take on in her future career. The chap­ter show­cas­es her grow­ing resolve to make a dif­fer­ence and chal­lenge the sta­tus quo, as she grap­ples with the com­plex­i­ties of the world around her.

Ulti­mate­ly, this chap­ter rep­re­sents a cru­cial moment in the protagonist’s per­son­al devel­op­ment. She nav­i­gates the bal­ance between con­fronting her fears and nur­tur­ing her ambi­tion, find­ing strength in her con­ver­sa­tions with Liam and draw­ing inspi­ra­tion from their shared dis­cus­sions. The chap­ter clos­es with a note of deter­mi­na­tion, as the pro­tag­o­nist solid­i­fies her desire to speak out against injus­tices and pur­sue her dreams of becom­ing a reporter. In doing so, she affirms her com­mit­ment to using her voice, despite the chal­lenges she faces. This resolve serves as a pow­er­ful tes­ta­ment to her growth, show­cas­ing the inner strength she’s build­ing as she moves clos­er to her aspi­ra­tions. The chap­ter reflects a piv­otal step in the pro­tag­o­nist’s jour­ney, where her fears are met with the courage to speak her truth and fight for a bet­ter future.