Demon has a string of “firsts” in seventh grade: football milestones, Homecoming (his first real date), and even his first dentist visit pushed by Angus, who also outfits him in a vintage white suit. At home, Demon also faces a sobering new reality: Coach Winfield sometimes drinks himself unconscious, and Demon has to carry him upstairs, with Angus framing it as grief that will worsen in spring.

School becomes unexpectedly engaging because of Mr. Armstrong, whose strictness about language and willingness to argue makes class feel alive. During a tense moment on bus duty, Mr. Armstrong challenges students who treat Confederate symbols casually, pointing out the contradiction of flying U.S. and Confederate flags together and explaining that many mountain Virginians were Union-leaning and exploited by outsiders who profited from their resources.

For Mr. Armstrong’s “Backgrounds” project, Demon finally has sources: his intimidating grandmother and, especially, Mr. Dick. Mr. Dick explains “Melungeon” as a slur turned identity, describing how mixed-heritage families used legal ambiguity to claim rights, and he connects Demon’s own family history to this legacy. Demon reads Mr. Dick’s envelope alone and breaks down, newly moved by a sense of peoplehood and by what he learns about his father and Miss Betsy’s fractured past.

Meanwhile, Demon’s popularity grows: he juggles early sexual experiences with middle school girlfriends and accepts that his earlier romance with Emmy is over as attention comes easily with football status. He balances athletics with gifted pullouts, riding to the high school twice a week for art with Ms. Annie, who encourages his cartooning, teaches techniques and anatomy, and becomes a source of intense motivation and craving for more time and approval.

Angus throws herself into starting an academic team at the high school, pushing proposals through teachers, the PTA, and the school board, then staging an assembly with Mr. Armstrong’s support. The effort collapses under bureaucratic resistance and a culture that funds football but not academics; Mr. Armstrong bluntly argues their district is behind because other regions have AP classes and labs. Demon’s own gifted “spring trip” becomes another lesson in disappointment: after being canceled for lack of bus money, it is salvaged by volunteer drivers, but Demon’s car turns back after repeated vomiting leaves the driver unwilling to continue—ending Demon’s hoped-for first trip to the ocean at Exit 114, Christiansburg.