Every Day

Fiction | Novel | YA

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Chapters 10-12Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Chapter 10 Summary: “Day 6003”

A wakes as James, who shares a bedroom with his two brothers, Paul and Tom. A qualifies for free breakfast due to the family’s low income, so s/he makes sure to get to school on time. At school, A gets an email from Rhiannon: “I want to believe you, but I don’t know how” (99). A also receives another email from Nathan: “I want to know why you do what you do” (100).

A gets through the school day, though in biology class the kids joke about Nathan, clearly showing that Nathan’s story is spreading. After school, A meets Rhiannon at Starbucks. She is startled at A’s transformation from Megan Powell to James the football player. She quizzes A about their day together at the ocean, their time together at the party, when he was Nathan, and the time that Amy Tran came to visit the school.

Once Rhiannon starts to believe A, she asks about his/her life. A tells her of the difficulties of never having a family but also of the benefits of having had such diverse experiences. A then asks Rhiannon about her relationship with Justin, trying to convince her that she is not really in love with Justin, but that she instead must really love A, based on what happened the day they were together.

Rhiannon acknowledges the “pull of the ocean, the song of the universe” (108). But Rhiannon says that it’s hard to distinguish which of her feelings were for Justin, and their history together, and which of her feelings were for A. Still, A is determined to prove that they belong to each other.

James returns home for dinner and hears Nathan on the radio, talking about his experience, saying, “I know I’m not the only one” (110). A wonders if there really are others out there like him, hoping it’s true; if so, s/he wouldn’t be so alone.

Chapter 11 Summary: “Day 6004”

A wakes up in the same room from yesterday and is baffled until s/he realizes that s/he is not the same person as yesterday (James); instead, A is James’s twin brother, Tom.

A also experiences another first: s/he gets to see how someone reacts after one of A’s possessions. James, however, doesn’t seem to notice anything different.

When A goes to the library, s/he searches for information about Nathan, and finds lots of news websites have picked up the story, especially evangelical Christian websites. A pities Nathan: “People are painting him as either a freak or an oracle. Nobody’s sitting him down and treating him like a sixteen-year-old boy” (114-15). A discovers another email from Nathan, asking again for answers. A decides to finally respond to the email, especially since A feels responsible for Nathan’s predicament. A writes to Nathan, saying Nathan is mistaken, and suggesting that Nathan must consider explanations other than blaming the devil.

A reflects on the fact that his/her day, on the whole, has been uneventful. In the past, s/he would have been happy for such a day. But ever since meeting Rhiannon, A’s longing for her has made everything else tedious.

When A goes to bed, s/he talks with James before falling asleep. Despite feeling bored earlier in the day, A takes joy in this: “I feel such a tenderness for these vulnerable night-time conversations, the way words take a different shape in the air when there’s no light in the room” (118). A says good-night to his brother, but A knows s/he’s really saying good-bye.

Chapter 12 Summary: “Day 6005”

Kelsea Cook is severely depressed. There are signs of it everywhere: the scars on the skin, the cracked mirror, the disorder of the room. When A learns her history, s/he is “shocked to realize that she’s gotten this far without any notice, without any diagnosis. She has been left to her own devices, and those devices are broken” (121).

The only other person in the house is her father, who has turned a blind eye to Kelsea’s mental illness. Her father takes her to school and is impatient with Kelsea for taking so long to get ready. When she gets to school, no one notices the depth of her depression. During physics, A is familiar with the experiment and A’s lab partner notices Kelsea spends more energy than usual on the lab. Other than that, A is isolated in Kelsea’s black cloud of depression. A feels relief from Kelsea’s suffering only when s/he gets an email from Rhiannon.

A then opens an email from Nathan and is surprised by the tone. Nathan’s email threatens that a reverend will find out A’s identity: “Confess now, before we find you” (125). It’s hard to reconcile this threat with some of the other emails Nathan has sent, which, at least lately, seemed to have a genuine desire for knowledge. A wonders about who is influencing Nathan.

A stops at the playground on the way home and reads Kelsea’s journal. S/he is shocked to realize the many different ways Kelsea has come up with to kill herself. In addition, A finds out that she plans to kill herself in the next six days. Stunned, s/he doesn’t know what to do. As a rule, s/he does not interfere with the person and their choices. But when s/he thinks about Kelsea’s life, A knows that no one hears Kelsea’s cries for help: not her father; not her mother, who left a long time ago; and not anyone in school. So, A reaches out to Rhiannon, who immediately comes over.

Rhiannon, after hearing the story, tells A that s/he must do something; she can’t let Kelsea kill herself. As they talk, A takes her hand, but Rhiannon pulls away, saying, “It’s not like the other day. I mean, it’s a different hand. You’re different.” (131). A wants to remind her of the enormity they shared at the ocean, and s/he leans in to kiss Rhiannon. In response, Rhiannon says, “This is definitely weird” (132). Rhiannon can’t ignore the body, which is the body of a severely-depressed girl. She also can’t forget that she has a boyfriend.

They get back to talking about Kelsea’s situation, and they decide that A must intervene. A needs to say something to the father to try to prevent Kelsea’s death. When the father calls her down to dinner, Kelsea/A sits down and bluntly tells him that she wants to die and needs help now. The father is stunned but wants to help. Despite his avoidance of Kelsea’s issues, it’s clear how much he loves her and will try to help her.

Chapters 10-12 Analysis

A is beginning to explore what it’s like to have a connection to someone, and, at times, s/he resents his/her fate, always having to act as another person, when all s/he wants is to have a unique identity. But A is still careful, staying in character, as in the case of the twin brothers, who tease each other but also clearly care about each other. For the first time, s/he gets to stay in the same house for two days, and A does start to crave the continuity that living in one place, in one life, would provide.

But A also sees how being in one life can lead to distortions, such as when a person is trapped by their body’s chemistry and history into having distorted perceptions, as Kelsea is. Mental illness is not a choice. This is similar to the body of a drug-addicted person—the chemistry of the body has changed, craving only one thing. This is a body so limited, it has no idea of the “enormity” that A has experienced (131).

A is so used to getting through the day, passing the hours until s/he is done with the body, that it is hard for A to break their rule of no interference. But A realizes that this is a life-and-death situation, and. in the end, decides to change their rule and get Kelsea the help she needs.