The play consumes the seventh grade to the point that students start using Shakespearian words in the halls. Marchese always has his script on hand, and the other teachers look like they need a good night’s rest. Students with less demanding roles, like Cooper and Aiden, help the stage workers complete the sets. No one has to do homework.

Brock gets a BMX bike so he can ride to school with Jolie. Cooper watches them and says Brock deserves to break his neck. Roddy leaves the GX-4000, and his ghostly cloud confronts Brock, who slams the brakes and flies through the air. His jeans tear, and his nose won’t stop bleeding. Cooper asks Roddy why he did that. Roddy said it was Cooper’s idea.

Jolie says Brock lost control, but Brock says he was in control—it was the fault of “this cloud.” Jolie tells Brock that a BMX bike isn’t a toy, and Jolie and Cooper walk Brock to the school nurse. They notice his voice is nasally and high-pitched. Brock’s soccer friends chide him about the “cloud.”