Celie comes home devastated after discovering she is the only Year Eleven student not invited to China and Meena’s party. Truant, who never gets on the bed, silently offers comfort by curling beside her as she cries. Gene notices, checks in awkwardly, and retreats, then returns with Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups and sits with Celie until she eats and calms a little.

Gene opens up about his own disappointment—losing a callback to a lesser actor—and uses the shared vulnerability to coax Celie out for a walk with Truant. On Hampstead Heath, he chatters to fill the silence while Celie dreads Monday and considers changing schools.

When Gene asks directly, Celie admits she feels ostracized: Meena and others have isolated her, spread or weaponized her personal secrets, and invited everyone else to the party. She describes physical anxiety and feeling unable to confide in Lila or her father. Gene hugs her, validates the pain, and listens without judgment.

Gene then reframes the situation: mean girls are “hurt people,” and Celie is broadcasting defeat through her body language. He argues she can shift the dynamic by changing how she “shows up.”

On the grass, Gene coaches Celie through posture, breath, stride, and attitude—chin up, chest open, steady breathing, and a faint, dismissive smile—to project indifference. He role-plays a mean girl and urges Celie to give him “Sassy Celie,” turning the lesson playful until Celie laughs.

Celie practices walking back and forth with confidence, imagining an invisible bubble that keeps taunts out. The exercise lifts her mood and gives her a concrete plan for Monday. As the moment winds down, Gene collapses theatrically onto the grass and then sheepishly asks Celie for help up, joking about his knees.