Chap­ter 29 cen­ters on the new­found excite­ment in the Auburn Wolves’ com­mu­ni­ty as the team cel­e­brates an unde­feat­ed sea­son for the first time in near­ly two decades. The protagonist’s friend, Sofia, who is a reporter, is eager to inter­view the protagonist’s father about the team’s achieve­ments. This leads the pro­tag­o­nist to accom­pa­ny Liam’s fam­i­ly to a game, where the shift from their qui­et, music-filled car ride to the vibrant cel­e­bra­tion after the Wolves’ vic­to­ry high­lights the immense ener­gy and enthu­si­asm in the air. The joy from the game extends beyond just the team’s suc­cess, as it pulls the pro­tag­o­nist and her friends into a shared moment of cel­e­bra­tion, reveal­ing how moments of col­lec­tive pride can unite peo­ple. This expe­ri­ence marks a turn­ing point for the pro­tag­o­nist as she finds her­self swept up in the infec­tious excite­ment that sur­rounds the Auburn Wolves, empha­siz­ing the con­nec­tion between per­son­al and com­mu­nal joy.

Fol­low­ing the game, the group gath­ers in Liam’s base­ment, which pro­vides a com­fort­ing and inti­mate space away from the chaos of the world out­side. As Fiona shows off her dance moves in a makeshift stu­dio, the group’s con­ver­sa­tion shifts to more per­son­al mat­ters, like the dynam­ics of rela­tion­ships in mid­dle school. The pres­sures of appear­ance and social accep­tance come to the fore­front, reflect­ing the inse­cu­ri­ties that often plague young peo­ple. Fiona brush­es off a boy’s com­pli­ment, demon­strat­ing how teenage attrac­tion can often be shal­low or fleet­ing, while at the same time under­scor­ing the com­plex­i­ty of young rela­tion­ships. Fiona’s insis­tence on enjoy­ing the win­ter for­mal as a group illus­trates a theme of sol­i­dar­i­ty among friends dur­ing ado­les­cence, show­cas­ing how social cir­cles can change as roman­tic inter­ests come into play. The girls’ con­ver­sa­tion high­lights the evolv­ing nature of friend­ship, as they nav­i­gate the tur­bu­lent land­scape of ado­les­cence, where rela­tion­ships are con­stant­ly in flux and often defined by exter­nal pres­sures.

Liam’s play­ful and sup­port­ive nature becomes more evi­dent dur­ing a cri­tique of Por­trait of an Old Crow, a draw­ing of a crow named Joe. He encour­ages the pro­tag­o­nist to loosen up, point­ing out how often peo­ple are too hard on them­selves and encour­ag­ing her to embrace her imper­fec­tions. In this light, Liam reveals an unex­pect­ed depth, using the draw­ing as a con­ver­sa­tion starter to dis­cuss themes of accep­tance and vul­ner­a­bil­i­ty. Their play­ful exchange, with Liam’s ter­ri­ble singing that elic­its laugh­ter, demon­strates the ease between them and their grow­ing com­fort with each oth­er. Through these moments, the pro­tag­o­nist begins to shed some of her inse­cu­ri­ties, learn­ing from Liam’s abil­i­ty to laugh at him­self and embrace the silli­ness of life. The con­ver­sa­tion also sub­tly high­lights the con­trast between how they approach life—Liam with a laid-back and care­free atti­tude, while the pro­tag­o­nist grap­ples with her wor­ries and self-doubt. This dynam­ic deep­ens their con­nec­tion, allow­ing the pro­tag­o­nist to con­sid­er let­ting go of her reser­va­tions and embrac­ing new expe­ri­ences with Liam.

As the chap­ter pro­gress­es, a piv­otal moment unfolds when Liam, encour­aged by the laugh­ter they’ve shared, final­ly gath­ers the courage to ask the pro­tag­o­nist to be his girl­friend. This ques­tion, though sim­ple, holds sig­nif­i­cant weight for both of them, mark­ing a step toward a deep­er emo­tion­al con­nec­tion. The pro­tag­o­nist, ini­tial­ly teas­ing Liam about dat­ing, final­ly admits her own feel­ings, affirm­ing her desire to take their rela­tion­ship to the next lev­el. This moment of vul­ner­a­bil­i­ty between them reflects the uncer­tain­ty and excite­ment that comes with first love, where each new step feels mon­u­men­tal and charged with emo­tion. The upcom­ing win­ter for­mal, once a dis­tant thought, now becomes a sym­bol of their grow­ing bond, rep­re­sent­ing not just a fun event but a key moment in their evolv­ing rela­tion­ship. It sig­nals a shift in how they view each oth­er and their con­nec­tion, sug­gest­ing the start of some­thing real and mean­ing­ful.

Ulti­mate­ly, this chap­ter beau­ti­ful­ly encap­su­lates the com­plex­i­ties of youth, com­pan­ion­ship, and the mixed emo­tions sur­round­ing first love. Through light­heart­ed moments, play­ful ban­ter, and deep­er con­ver­sa­tions, the chap­ter explores the nuances of grow­ing up, where friend­ship and romance blend, and where per­son­al growth is inter­twined with the joys and chal­lenges of ado­les­cence. The protagonist’s rela­tion­ship with Liam evolves through shared expe­ri­ences, high­light­ing how these for­ma­tive years are defined by both light­heart­ed fun and moments of emo­tion­al sig­nif­i­cance. The jux­ta­po­si­tion of care­free fun and the deep­er emo­tion­al under­cur­rents of first love paints an authen­tic por­trait of ado­les­cence, where each new experience—whether joy­ous or uncertain—helps shape one’s under­stand­ing of them­selves and their rela­tion­ships. Through these expe­ri­ences, the pro­tag­o­nist learns more about love, friend­ship, and the com­plex­i­ties of bal­anc­ing one’s desires with the real­i­ties of grow­ing up.