Poppy searched her closet on May 6, 1975, for an old diary her mother had once read without permission. Years earlier, Poppy had baited her mother by writing a fake entry about buying marijuana, which led to her mother confronting her and inadvertently revealing the snooping. Poppy had used the moment to admonish her mother and walk away.

Believing time had passed and her mother might have forgotten the diary, Poppy cut out the old planted page and prepared to write a new, truthful entry prompted by a fresh rumor she had discussed with her friend Margot.

In a flashback to earlier that day, Margot whispered that she had heard Lydia had an abortion. Poppy, aware of her own mother’s strict views on abortion, ensured their privacy before questioning the rumor’s source. Margot said she overheard girls in the school bathroom.

Poppy and Margot speculated about Lydia’s relationships: brief dating history with Dave Gunderson and Pete Mayhew before Vincent, and whether pregnancy “only takes one time.” Margot repeated her mother’s gossip about Lydia’s mother being promiscuous, while Poppy reflected on her own mother’s hidden instability and public facade.

Margot added the more troubling claim that the pregnancy was not Vincent’s. Poppy, alarmed, probed whether anyone had named a potential father; none had. They considered possibilities, dismissing some (Pete dating Ginnie; Dave unlikely; Lydia’s limited activities), and briefly contemplated Lydia’s biology lab partner Charlie Carson, which Margot rejected.

Margot asked if Vincent knew. Poppy thought he did not and believed things would worsen if he found out, noting that Vincent and Lydia argued but not, to Poppy’s knowledge, about a baby or an abortion.

Returning to the present moment, Poppy sat in her room amid household sounds—her mother cooking, Danny’s loud music—and wrote a succinct diary entry: she heard a rumor that Lydia was pregnant and now is not. Poppy tried to foresee the consequences, especially for Vincent, who already seemed tense.