In this chap­ter titled “Cas­sidy,” the nar­ra­tor, Cas­sidy, finds her­self in a state of emo­tion­al tur­moil, escap­ing from some unseen pur­suers into the woods. She even­tu­al­ly col­laps­es in a mead­ow, over­whelmed by her feel­ings of betray­al and heart­break. In this vul­ner­a­ble moment, she encoun­ters Wyn­ton, a skin­ny boy attempt­ing to play the vio­lin. Ini­tial­ly, the sounds he pro­duces are jar­ring, but as Cas­sidy lis­tens more intent­ly, the music trans­forms, res­onat­ing beau­ti­ful­ly and fill­ing her with light.

Wynton’s curios­i­ty and gen­tle­ness draw Cas­sidy in, and they share an unex­pect­ed­ly deep con­nec­tion as they sit back-to-back, allow­ing the music to weave their emo­tions togeth­er. He shares that he often hears his father’s trum­pet play­ing in the dis­tance, a sound both haunt­ing and com­fort­ing, reveal­ing the loss and long­ing in his life. In turn, Cas­sidy opens up about her own trag­ic loss, express­ing her grief over her father’s death and the absence cre­at­ed by her moth­er, who seems to be drift­ing away emo­tion­al­ly.

Their con­ver­sa­tion blos­soms amidst laugh­ter and shared hunger; Wyn­ton invites her to try a souf­flé made by his moth­er, Bernadette. The inter­ac­tion feels trans­for­ma­tive, with Cas­sidy notic­ing Wynton’s unique beau­ty, spark­ing a bur­geon­ing crush that feels new and exhil­a­rat­ing. But as their friend­ship begins to solid­i­fy, the real­i­ty of Cassidy’s life intrudes. She spots her moth­er con­vers­ing with police offi­cers, bring­ing back feel­ings of anx­i­ety and urgency relat­ed to her family’s insta­bil­i­ty.

Despite the moment of joy they’ve shared, Cas­sidy runs to her moth­er, demon­strat­ing her loy­al­ty and the strong bond they share, pro­claim­ing that her moth­er is her true des­tiny. They embrace, and Cas­sidy’s moth­er express­es her com­mit­ment to leav­ing behind their dif­fi­cult cir­cum­stances. The nar­ra­tive shifts as Cas­sidy reflects on her fleet­ing but pro­found encounter with Wyn­ton, hint­ing at a blos­som­ing romance and youth­ful dreams woven through music and shared despair, com­plex emo­tions that linger in her heart long after the moment fades away.