In a flashback to high school, Tom watches Daisy Driscoll outside school and has to force himself to stop staring at her. His best friend Slug pushes him to talk to her, while Tom reflects on Slug’s gross reputation, his own social isolation, and his long-standing fixation on Daisy. Tom finally approaches Daisy, asks to walk her home, and is thrilled when she agrees despite her friends’ teasing and Alison’s obvious disapproval.

As Tom and Daisy leave school together, Tom is euphoric because he has wanted her for years and already imagines a future in which he marries her. He awkwardly offers to carry Daisy’s very heavy backpack and tries to act like a gentleman, wanting to impress her and avoid ruining his chance with her. During the walk, Tom thinks about his academic ambitions, especially becoming a surgeon, but those thoughts blend with disturbing fantasies about cutting into the human body.

Daisy tells Tom that she likes him and even calls his intelligence attractive, which confirms that his feelings are reciprocated. However, Tom’s reaction is unsettling: instead of focusing only on romance, he becomes fixated on the arteries and veins in Daisy’s neck and calculates how vulnerable they are. He hides those thoughts, takes Daisy’s hand, and continues the walk while carefully saying the right things.

When they reach Daisy’s house, Tom nearly kisses her, but Daisy’s father interrupts them. Jim Driscoll, a large and protective but friendly man, jokes about the moment, reveals that Daisy talks about Tom, and invites Tom to dinner. Tom politely agrees, but internally he wants as little contact as possible with Daisy’s father because Jim is the town’s chief of police. The chapter ends by underscoring the gap between Tom’s polite exterior and his secret, dangerous mind.