Paper Things

Ari goes over to Sasha’s house for the night. Sasha’s mother, Marianna, asks Ari about whether she has started her application to Carter, the prestigious middle school that both Ari and Sasha hope to attend. Ari’s mother wanted her to attend Carter because everyone in Ari’s family did. Now that her mother is dead, it’s important to Ari to fulfill her wish. After hearing about how complex the application is, Ari wonders if it’s already too late to apply. She also wonders who is supposed to sign it and what address to put on the application. Sasha becomes irritated about hearing too much about it, and she and Ari go to Sasha’s room. Ari helps Sasha with math. Ari recites a letter she wrote as if from a fraction addressing a decimal to explain the concept to Sasha. Sasha reacts by calling Ari weird and criticizing her for not just doing things the simple way. Ari feels hurt by Sasha’s comment but says nothing, instead pulling out her paper things in the hopes of reminding Sasha of simpler times. Sasha remembers playing with them and making families together but laughs off the memory, calling it dorky. Ari feels like she’s being left behind in a world that nobody else understands.

Gage collects Ari from Sasha’s, and Ari is happy to see the sun shining outside. She stops at the park on the way to Briggs’s to look for change and finds plenty. On her way to the apartment, she meets the man and his dog again. He gives Ari an intricate paper plane and introduces himself as Reggie. A stranger rides by and throws a brick at Reggie, shouting at him to get a job. The brick nearly hits Reggie. Ari is in shock but thanks Reggie for the gift and heads to Briggs’s apartment. She finds Janna there waiting for her. Janna has come to bring some of Ari’s belongings and inspect the living situation. Gage seems to have cleaned up and arranged the apartment to look like it belongs to him and Ari, which convinces Janna that they have a place to live. Just as Janna is leaving, Ari wants to say something, but all she does is thank Janna for the stuff.

Ari explains a personal theory about the quantity of good and bad moments in a person’s life. She believes that everyone is allotted the same amount of each in an “imaginary sack” (105). She hopes that since her life has been so difficult lately, she is going to run out of bad things soon and experience something better. Ironically, when lunch time comes, Ari finds out that Janna has stopped paying for her school lunches. Ari has no idea what to do about it. Sitting with her friends, she thinks about how she hasn’t been attending Girl Guides and how her grades are slipping. A few minutes later, the “Gifted and Talented” teacher (109), Mademoiselle Barbary, takes Ari and some other kids aside to ask if they feel like they’re being challenged enough lately. She asks how the students feel about leaving elementary school. Afterward, Daniel reveals that he has a list of things he wants to do before leaving. He shows Ari the list: On it are several fun things like freeing the class turtle and decorating the hallway with snowflakes. Last on the list is the goal of convincing Ari to join him, and Ari agrees to think about it.

Gage finds out from Briggs that Briggs’s landlord complained about Gage and Ari staying over too often. Desperate for a place to stay that isn’t the shelter, Gage calls a friend he met by the docks and takes Ari to his house. The friend, Perry, lives with his wife, Kristen, who seems less than pleased about having surprise guests. Still, she offers to let Ari sleep in the cupola (an attic-like room at the top of the house), which is filled with windows and has a view out onto the street below. Kristen asks Ari if it’s difficult not having her own bed, and Ari replies that she’s fine as long as she’s with Gage. She shows Kristen her paper things, and Kristen tells Ari that she had a miscarriage and that her relationship with Perry hasn’t been the same since. After Kristen leaves Ari alone, Ari looks at one of her history books and finds out that Alcott enjoyed making lists and lived in poverty as a child. She takes out her paper airplane from Reggie and examines it. She sees a Jiffy Lube ad on it and wonders if the airplane is a sign of fate. Despite having few things to her name, Ari sends the plane out the window into the night, making a wish on it. She wishes for Gage to find work and for them to find a place to live.

In Mr. O’s English class, Ari overhears Sasha and some other girls talking about Ari’s appearance and smell. They comment on Ari’s greasy hair and disheveled look, as well as body odor. Ari feels deeply embarrassed and tries to cover herself up as best she can. She is wearing a stained shirt and hasn’t showered in a couple of days since she and Gage woke up late this morning. They had to run almost a mile for the bus and ended up arguing with each other because of the stress. At lunch, Ari avoids her friends and sits alone in the classroom working on her report. Kristen packed her some leftover pizza, and Ari finds a surprise orange in her bag that she guesses must be from Daniel. She thinks back to second grade, the time when her mother died, and how she spent weeks in the classroom reading by herself in the corner. She remembers not crying as much as she expected to. She also remembers the guidance counselor’s office and the dollhouse she always wanted to play with. Ari decides to write Daniel a note telling him she will do two things on his list if he helps her get a leadership position and apply to Carter.

Ari is at Head Start enjoying the unconditional warmth and comfort of the kids there when a man named West, the social worker at the Lighthouse shelter, arrives. He pulls Ari aside and asks her about her living situation. Ari lies and says she and Gage are living with Briggs for now. Moments later, Gage shows up looking clean-shaven and proud. He announces that he got a job at Jiffy Lube, and Ari is thrilled to think that soon she and her brother will have an apartment.

Ari and Gage head to Chloe’s house to celebrate Gage’s new job. Over dinner, everyone seems happy and excited about the future until they start looking at apartments. It quickly becomes clear to both Ari and Gage that things are not as simple as they hoped: Gage will need references or a co-signatory. He wants to live in the east end of the city because it is near Carter, but it is harder to find affordable places there. Gage refuses the idea of asking Janna for help and reveals that he can’t call anyone about apartments because Janna cut his phone service off.