Demon describes how U‑Haul Pyles continues to target him during a season that ends in the state semifinals. Even as the team wins and Demon plays more than Collins, U‑Haul hovers, tapes motel room doors to police curfews, and drags Demon on errands. At Heeltown, U‑Haul’s mother pries for gossip about neighbors and makes racially loaded digs about Ms. Annie. When Demon refuses further visits, U‑Haul threatens him, claiming to know about Demon’s phone calls and weed and warning he’ll lose his place with Coach if he talks.

After the season, Demon visits the Peggots. In the winter woods, Emmy recounts June’s blowup with Kent: June refuses to enable his pill sales and organizes a town-hall petition against his company. Kent accuses her of lacking compassion; June counters with the community’s addiction and hepatitis crisis. The fight ruins Kent’s Hawaii-bonus plans, and Hammer Kelly sleeps on their couch with a rifle in case Kent returns.

At school, May Ann Larkins casually informs Demon that Linda has married Loring Blake after a courthouse ceremony. The news ends Demon’s secret phone relationship without closure, leaving him humiliated and grieving a connection no one knew about.

Angus, newly licensed, takes Demon to Miss Betsy’s house in Murder Valley. A spat over Demon’s “love life” turns into tense silence, but they are welcomed warmly. Miss Betsy steers a talk about futures: Angus, a junior, intends to leave Jonesville for college in psychology or sociology. Demon, pressed to answer, offers football scholarship hopes; Betsy urges him not to let sports eclipse study and to “take a look around” beyond Lee County.

Driving home, Angus chatters about colleges near the ocean, while Demon seethes at the thought of being left behind and starting over as a nobody. The landscape triggers memories of his earlier runaway through Murder Valley—sleeping in a barn, starving behind a dumpster, losing everything at a truck stop—underscoring his fear, loneliness, and resistance to leaving the fragile home he has built.