Starting middle school in Jonesville, Demon expects to be outmatched by bigger kids but finds unexpected protection in his new shoes and his association with Coach Winfield. Coach signs his forms at dinner and lets Demon help at Saturday practices, where Demon hauls laundry and gear and studies the varsity drills.

On the field, Coach becomes a different person: alert, exacting, and energized. After practice he tests Demon with passes and sprints, briefly mentoring him with focused attention that makes Demon want to prove himself. Demon learns Coach once played at UT until a shoulder injury ended it, and he wonders how much of this version of Coach Angus knows or wants to know.

School shifts again when guidance counselor Mr. Armstrong reviews Demon’s DSS history, calls him “resilient,” and administers nonverbal assessments. Demon unexpectedly scores into Gifted/Talented; Mr. Armstrong moves him to a stronger English class and math tutoring. Demon resists the identity change but accepts the placement for now, figuring he may not be in Jonesville long.

Meanwhile, in his remedial math class, classmate Fish Head requests erotic sketches, and Demon turns his drawing skill into a small business using borrowed magazines as reference. Math tutoring is mostly girls, which softens his resistance.

At home, Angus enforces homework and legalities while venting about school drama and dissecting media stereotypes. As the Generals stay undefeated, Coach grows more absent, living in game film and temper. Angus reveals her given name, Agnes, remembers being Coach’s game-day girl before he shut her out of practices, and now claims to hate football. Demon notes Coach’s dentures and sees the contrast: Coach’s storm-in-a-shot-glass intensity versus Angus’s deep, steady ocean.