Highly Suspicious and Unfairly Cute

“Celine”

Allen grows annoyed with this revelation while the rest of the group strategizes. Celine and Brad find themselves making commiserative eye contact, though they quickly look away. Brad notices that Aurora seems to have solved the riddle but is too shy to articulate her ideas. Celine worries he will steal Aurora’s solution, but instead Brad just encourages Aurora to speak up for herself. Celine feels disoriented by Brad’s kindness, which reminds her of their past friendship. The group splits into pairs to seek the other guidebooks; Brad and Celine are put into a pair.

“Brad”

Brad finds it odd that Celine is listening to another teammate’s plan rather than attempting to take charge for herself. He urges her to remove her hands from her pockets, so she can catch herself if she trips; this leads them to bicker. Brad realizes that Celine only speaks to him when annoyed, so he begins purposely irritating her. He is pleased when, while making a caustic comment, Celine reveals that she thinks he is smart.

Their bickering leads Brad to recall the genesis of Celine’s obsession with conspiracy theories: when they were nine, her father disappeared for several days, which Celine blamed on an alien abduction. When he returned, announcing that he’d had an affair that had resulted in the birth of twins and he would be leaving his previous family for his new one, Celine blamed this on alien mind control. As children, Brad accepted this; her “willful delusions” made him, a child with “obsessive compulsions,” feel less isolated. As they grew older, he began to dislike the attention this drew to Celine and, as a result, himself.

In the present, Brad references his past apology for asking her to quiet her interests. It wasn’t his fault, he asserts, that their classes separated. Celine allows this but claims he “’made it worse’” (115) by becoming popular. She further admits that asking him not to make other friends was unfair. Brad is shocked at the admission. He blurts that his therapist called Celine “controlling,” which clearly hurts Celine’s feelings, though she does not deny it.

She asserts the real problem is that Brad found her embarrassing, according to their fight years prior. He apologizes again, but she doesn’t believe him “after that.” He flashes back to the incident she references, when he took 14-year-old Celine to meet his new football friends. Her nerves led her to explain conspiracy theories loudly and repeatedly. Brad asked her to stop talking about “that stuff,” calling it “weird.” Celine countered that she might be “weird,” but preferred that to lacking integrity. The fight escalated, the insults becoming more vicious.

In the present, Celine accuses Brad of abandoning her to “fit in” with the popular crowd. She urges him to admit it, but he refuses; he thinks back to wanting new friends and to keep Celine in his life. He claims she never let anyone see the real her; she counters that he left her. He believes, however, that she left him. She retorts that he was completely different, causing Brad to realize the connection; to Celine, it seemed like he, too, had been “abducted by aliens” (120). He doesn’t articulate this connection, comparing their friendship to a “tangled chain” that has no hope of becoming untangled.

Their argument culminates in Celine throwing a handful of mud at Brad. She is briefly satisfied before remembering his OCD. She apologizes frantically while he uses therapeutic techniques to dispel his intrusive thoughts. To Celine’s shock, he calms and throws mud back at her. They have a furious mud fight that leaves them both laughing hysterically.

They decide neither can forgive the past but they resolve to not argue and distract one another during the BEP. Celine grabs Brad’s chin, which he finds shocking, and directs his gaze upward, where a booklet is hidden in a tree.

Jordan asks, via text, if Brad “killed Celine yet” (125). When Brad says only “worse,” Jordan replies “YOU KISSED HER DIDN’T YOU” (125), which causes Brad to send a flurry of unanswered texts demanding to know why Jordan would think that.

“Celine”

Celine complains to Aurora about the “rigged” game while they listen to the other team’s victory party. She probes about Aurora’s journaling hobby, recognizing her questions as intrusive, and is shocked when Aurora abruptly asks “what’s up” between Celine and Brad. Despite her discomfort, Celine tells Aurora the whole story, starting with their best friendship. Childhood Celine was bullied and thought she and (then unpopular) Brad could get through school together. As Brad grew in popularity, however, Celine was bullied less; when their friendship ended, the bullying resumed. Privately, she laments more that Brad “squashed” his personality to “fit into a social box that wasn’t made for him” (131).

Celine thinks back to Brad’s comment about his therapist finding her controlling. She recognizes this quality in herself, noting her tendency to cling to people too forcefully so they can’t leave her. This tendency has improved in recent years. She gets distracted by the revelation that Aurora’s birthday is the coming Friday, while they’re still at BEP. She begins plotting a birthday surprise for Aurora.

They return to discussing the merits of feeling “normal” and Aurora confides that, prior to her diagnosis with celiac disease, her classmates found her a “complete freak,” and Aurora felt they were correct. Celine, feeling fortunate for her own self-confidence, sympathizes with Aurora’s feeling that those who bullied her were correct. Aurora now considers herself fortunate for this experience, as it let her learn the difference between cruel and kind people. Celine is skeptical of Aurora’s implication that Brad’s popularity prevented him from learning this lesson.

“Brad”

The next day, the BEP students learn survival safety information from the books they found in the woods the previous day. Brad and Celine peacefully ignore one another, which Brad finds boring. Brad uses the mental space he previously dedicated to sparring with Celine for thinking about his novel, though these thoughts are mostly self-castigating. On the third day, Brad is paired with another student, Raj, to put up a tent; they get distracted by goofing around instead of remaining businesslike. Celine, by contrast, is highly efficient.

Raj notes Brad’s admiration for Celine. When Celine approaches, asking to talk, Brad is thrilled; they sit in Brad and Raj’s lopsided tent for some privacy. They banter, but the tone is friendly instead of caustic. Celine fixes Brad’s tent while she asks for his advice on throwing Aurora an illicit party. Brad agrees to help, though he’s struck by the uncomfortable reminder of how loyal Celine is to her friends. 

“Celine”

Celine puzzles over the difference between “not-enemies” and “friends,” questioning her decision to ask Brad for help with the party. She texts Minnie about this, and Minnie is incredulous. Celine wonders how Brad ended up taking control of the whole event. By Friday, as she tries to keep Aurora from going to bed after curfew, she frets that she made a mistake.

Raj and Sophie fetch Aurora and Celine, sneaking them to a party in Thomas and Brad’s dorm room. Both Aurora and Celine find the party charming. Celine is touched that Brad put in such effort. She is shocked when Brad gives her credit for the idea. Celine feels somewhat overwhelmed by the speed with which she has come to consider these people friends. She is suspicious of the ease of their camaraderie. Brad teases her for her reluctance to thank him.

Brad reveals he collaborated with his dad (to make gluten-free cupcakes) and Giselle (to drop off the cupcakes and produce a single alcoholic beverage, as Aurora is now of age). Celine is shocked that Giselle and Brad are on good terms. He teases Celine about her being the only one of her family “’who needs to get with the program’” of liking him (151). Sophie calls Brad “adorable,” which Celine thinks is “ridiculous.”

“Brad”

The party continues until the exhausted teens are all lying on the floor, wrapped in blankets. Celine, next to Brad, demands to know why he’s being quiet. He maligns her conversational topic to cover up that he wanted to accuse her of flirting with Thomas. She punches him on one arm, then the other, to “even out” the feeling, something she used to do during their friendship. They are both embarrassed at the memory.

Sophie interrupts, asking about Brad’s university plans. He grows flustered at not knowing what subfield of law interests him but distracts from his own future by asking about the others’ futures. Aurora wants to study fine art, Raj marketing. Sophie intends to pursue politics and international relations. Celine cites her interest in law, dreamily citing the importance of one of Katharine’s cases, even though Katharine lost the suit. She is less excited, however, when she says she will pursue corporate law rather than human rights law. Sophie gets a text that their party has been discovered.

“Celine”

Celine panics as Sophie urges them to hide everything under the bed. Celine can hear one of the program supervisors in the hallway when she realizes she won’t fit under the bed. Brad, thinking quickly, urges her out the window. She nervously listens from outside as Thomas, feigning puzzlement, denies the party. She’s surprised to find that she doesn’t fear Brad leaving her out in the cold night.

By the time she can go back inside, she’s chilled. She feels strange as Brad solicitously pats her cold, wet feet with a blanket. Thomas, still believing them cousins, comments on the flirtatiousness of this action.

Later, Celine and Brad exchange bantering text messages despite Celine’s observation that they should be paying attention to their BEP activity.