Mr. McCobb delivers Demon to Golly’s Market for after-school work, but instead of the register he’s assigned to a separate trash-and-recycling business behind the store. There he discovers a mountain of garbage, reunites with Swap-Out, and meets his real boss: Ghost, Stoner’s white-haired, heavily tattooed friend from Pro’s Pizza.

Ghost puts Demon on the “smart” jobs—sorting valuables and draining acid from car batteries—while Swap-Out rinses bottles and crushes cans amid rats and filth. Ghost keeps a private back room that reeks of chemicals; he warns Demon to stay out. Demon notices window fans, “cat-piss” fumes, and rapid, unseen depletion of Sudafed from the store, while rough regulars slip behind the building to deal with Ghost. Paid four dollars an hour and fed leftovers, Demon helps stock shelves and sees customers living on beer, beans, and cold medicine, concluding he is among “lowlifes.”

At school, Demon’s isolation hardens. Slam books label him trash and worse, and classmates shun him in gym and lunch. After an outburst in Mrs. McCobb’s car, he explains the bullying and the damage to her family’s reputation; she secretly takes him to Walmart for jeans, shirts, shoes, and a toothbrush, but the new clothes do nothing to change his status.

Demon rides with older boys who talk drugs and football; he lies about his age and prospects to fit in. At home he draws cartoons for Haillie and answers Miss Barks’s questions about failing grades with open disdain for school. Missing Fast Forward’s guidance and noticing the first signs of puberty, Demon ends the chapter suspecting his new job is part of a meth operation.