In Chap­ter Twen­ty-Six of “If These Wings Could Fly,” the nar­ra­tive cen­ters on the evolv­ing rou­tine between the pro­tag­o­nist and Liam, who dri­ves her to school each morn­ing. This con­sis­tent rit­u­al becomes a com­fort­ing part of her day, allow­ing her to antic­i­pate joy­ful moments rather than focus on her fears, par­tic­u­lar­ly of the crawl space at night. The rela­tion­ship between them remains pla­ton­ic; they share con­ver­sa­tions and laugh­ter, but phys­i­cal inti­ma­cy remains absent.

On a typ­i­cal Fri­day, as they pre­pare for a lit­er­a­ture exam, their play­ful exchange high­lights Liam’s exhaus­tion from foot­ball and the ease of their com­pan­ion­ship. The pro­tag­o­nist offers Liam hot choco­late, con­trast­ing with her own pref­er­ence for cof­fee, show­cas­ing their devel­op­ing bond. They dis­cuss music in the car, and when a Guns N’ Ros­es song both­ers her, she turns it off, indi­cat­ing her evolv­ing com­fort in voic­ing her pref­er­ences.

The exam serves as a back­drop for a deep­er con­ver­sa­tion. The pro­tag­o­nist quizzes Liam on their sum­mer read­ing, focus­ing on Thomas Hardy’s *Tess of the d’Urbervilles*. As they tack­le themes of social class and gen­der dynam­ics in lit­er­a­ture, Liam sur­pris­es her with his thought­ful insights, acknowl­edg­ing ongo­ing soci­etal issues regard­ing harass­ment and dis­crim­i­na­tion. This per­spec­tive reveals a more pro­found under­stand­ing of cur­rent affairs than she ini­tial­ly expect­ed from some­one his age.

Their con­ver­sa­tion delves into heavy themes about women’s roles, soci­etal expec­ta­tions, and the con­se­quences of voic­ing dis­sent. While the pro­tag­o­nist con­tem­plates the dan­gers faced by women who fight for their voice, she express­es a desire to be a reporter one day, hop­ing to illu­mi­nate these sto­ries and shed light on painful truths.

Ulti­mate­ly, the chap­ter depicts a sig­nif­i­cant growth in the pro­tag­o­nist, as she bal­ances her fears and desire for expres­sion, build­ing hope for her future while simul­ta­ne­ous­ly nav­i­gat­ing the com­plex­i­ties of her dai­ly real­i­ty. The chap­ter clos­es on a note of deter­mi­na­tion, empha­siz­ing her resolve to even­tu­al­ly speak out and chal­lenge injus­tices, reflect­ing her inner strength and ambi­tion.