The chapter opened by declaring teenagers the best kind of humans and adults the worst, then set the time as just before Easter. It foreshadowed that Louisa would be thrown out of an art auction for vandalizing a valuable painting, despite having what she considered a perfect plan.

The auction took place in an old church guarded by humorless, muscular security, wary of activist vandalism. Louisa circumvented the front entrance by breaking in through a bathroom window, a skill taught by her friend Fish. Inside, she spray-painted a satirical portrait of the guards as jellyfish, then disguised herself in a white dress shirt and slipped into the crowd.

Louisa’s insecurity about her size, voice, and anxious heart contrasted with the obliviousness of the rich attendees, who focused on mirrors, selfies, and investment talk rather than the art. A group debated whether the bathroom graffiti was art, resolving it was not because it lacked a price tag. Men praised a top lot as a "damn fine investment," especially because rumors said the artist, C. Jat, was a recluse and drug addict who might die, which would raise the painting’s value.

Louisa moved through waitstaff and guests toward The One of the Sea, which was protected by a velvet rope. An elderly, diamond-draped woman and her husband reduced the painting to decor and status, discussing frames and color coordination. Louisa’s fury grew at their attitudes toward art and people.

Louisa carried spray paint, her passport, and a postcard from her mother that read, "It’s so beautiful here, the sun shines every day. Miss you, see you soon. —Mom," hinting at parental absence. As she reached the painting, memories of Fish replaced her anger. She recalled their bond from a group foster home, their nighttime break-ins for ice cream, paint, and movies, and the tattoos they gave each other: Louisa’s beautiful heart on Fish’s arm and Fish’s ugly, beloved one-armed man in a tree on Louisa’s arm.

Backstory detailed how Fish turned eighteen and left foster care, spiraled into substances, and eventually died three weeks prior. While adults called it suicide, Louisa believed Fish was "murdered by reality"—overwhelmed by perpetual sadness. This grief explained Louisa’s hatred of adults, commodification, and the world’s indifference to orphans.

The chapter closed with Louisa’s visceral response to The One of the Sea, describing art’s power to make a teenager’s heart race and fear momentarily vanish. It asserted that only adults would think the image depicted the sea, implying a more intimate meaning to Louisa and setting stakes for her impending act.