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Jared wakes up on New Year’s Day of 2013 in a stranger’s bedroom. The Native boy next to him introduces himself as George and relays the night’s events to Jared. Jared defended George against Dylan at the party, and George posted the embarrassing altercation online. Jared convinces him to take it down, worried about the consequences.
Jared reads text messages from Destiny, who resents him for not babysitting Ben so she could party. He also has an old voicemail from Mrs. Jaks asking for help, which prompts Jared to realize he cannot remember the past two days. Jared goes next door to Dylan’s to apologize, and Dylan punches him before deciding he is “too hungover to kill [him]” (101). Dylan drops off Jared at the Jaks house, where he shovels their driveway, but no one answers the door. He feels obligated to help Mrs. Jaks “after all the shit that had gone down” with David (102). Jared drinks some stolen vodka to steady his shaking hands before having dinner with his mom, who warns him not to let Dylan use him as a “punching bag.”
Jared visits his dad again, and their conversation makes him suspicious of Phil’s financial situation. Jared realizes that his dad has been receiving his disability checks but spending the money and expecting Jared to help him pay rent. Jared knows that without his help, his dad’s family would likely be homeless, “but he hated this. Hated the way his dad was trying to hold it together but probably wouldn’t. He hated that his dad couldn’t meet his eye” (107). Jared still gives Phil his money but insists he will not return. On the way home, one of his mom’s texts reads: “Sarcastic lil shit ur lucky I luv u nuff not to murder u in ur sleep” (108).
Jared remembers when his mom met David, who supported them and seemed to make Maggie happy. Jared kept his grades hidden from Dave, but one day Dave found his report card and broke several of Jared’s ribs. Maggie found them in Jared’s room and used a nail gun to nail David’s feet to the floor. Maggie wanted Jared to nail David’s arm to demonstrate he was not afraid of him, but Jared refused. Maggie spent the rest of the day waiting for Jared, while David remained nailed to the floor, and “in that moment, in a weird, weird dream, [Jared] popped out of his body” and went to visit the Jakses (111). Mrs. Jaks spoke to him in a language he did not know but suddenly understood, and “a glowing shape of her lifted up” while her body remained in place on the sofa (133). Together they walked back to Jared’s house, where “he saw himself on the stretcher—his frozen face, his blank eyes—and Mrs. Jaks lifted him up and put him back in his body” (113).
Jared is hurt by his father’s behavior and is drunkenly getting ready for bed when Destiny arrives at his door unexpectedly. She admits she knew Phil was hiding the insurance money from Jared, claiming he wanted to buy things for the baby. Jared considers his dad’s guilt but “[wonders] what it took to get from the dad he’d known to the dad who let his stepdaughter, Destiny, do his talking for him” (117). Jared gets very worried about his mom finding out Destiny is there, knowing she would react violently, but she is busy with yet another party upstairs. Destiny breaks down about her baby’s father, whom she found out was secretly married, and Jared tries to console her. She kisses him, and Jared briefly and drunkenly considers hooking up with his stepsister. Instead, they drink together, and he reminds her that they are siblings before falling asleep.
Jared wakes up hungover, feeling regretful and anxious when he remembers his interactions with Destiny. He decides to clean up his squalid room before he goes to shovel the Jakses’ driveway. There he meets their quirky granddaughter, Sarah, and helps them clean up the spoiled meat from the broken freezer.
The next morning, he wakes up in his room from a blackout, with Sarah naked next to him. He cannot remember what they did that night and spends the day hungover in bed. He accepts Sarah’s invitation to dinner and notices that Sarah and Mrs. Jaks frequently argue. Sarah is defiant and outspoken and wishes her Gran would “decolonize” herself. Mrs. Jaks goes to bed after watching some TV, and Sarah admits to Jared that she does not “want to be here” (130).
Jared returns to school from Christmas vacation hungover with everyone calling him “Cookie Dude.” He later learns that Ebony posted a video online of him doing embarrassing things as retaliation for embarrassing Dylan, but he does not let the negative attention bother him. Sarah has transferred to their high school, and they go home together. After they casually hook up, Sarah asks Jared about his relationship with her grandparents. He explains that he stayed with them while his mother was in rehab but does not share the details surrounding his (and David’s) assault. Sarah shares that her mom does not want her to return home but also does not divulge any details. After she leaves, Jared remembers the conflicting advice he received from his mom and Mrs. Jaks after his assault: Mrs. Jaks advised Jared to forgive David in order to “live without his shadow on your lives,” while Maggie told him, “You need to be harder” (141).
Richie and Maggie disappear for several days, and Jared worries they might have died. When they do return home, Maggie calls Jared “a big baby” for worrying so much about her and tries to console him with fried chicken and “enough beer to kill all the brain cells that matter” (125).
The following day, Jared attends a protest on the reserve with Sarah, and on the way there, he thinks to himself: “Funny, they hadn’t known each other more than a week and he’d already forgotten what life was like without her” (144). He returns to find his room destroyed, and Richie advises him to stay with a friend because Maggie is “pissed.” Upstairs, Jared confronts her and finds out she is enraged because Destiny shared with Maggie how much Jared had been helping them. Maggie begins to assault him verbally and physically, and he leaves without any explanation.
The new year begins with “weltschmerz,” a feeling of melancholy. The start of 2013 does not bring Jared’s family new beginnings or improvements; his relationships just continue to deteriorate until they reach the height of their dysfunction. Jared is heartbroken when he realizes that Phil has been receiving his checks but relying on Jared’s money anyway, and at no point does Phil accept responsibility for his choices. Instead, he reminds Jared: “I raised you,” as if a child is indebted to their parents. Only after Jared learns the truth about Phil’s role in his life does he understand the implications of this statement. Jared accurately predicted how Maggie would react should she find out he was still maintaining a relationship with Phil, no less helping him financially: Maggie’s reaction is so violent that Jared flees home for two weeks to stay safe.
Jared’s inner voice reminds him that he has a “talent for self-destruction” (104), which he has inherited from Maggie, but at no point does he refer to addiction or admit that he struggles with addiction like she does. The dependency, however, is abundantly clear: Jared’s blackouts fragment the narrative, and his withdrawal symptoms are graphic and visceral. He drinks even when he does not want to, and in his drunkenness, he considers having sex with his stepsister—crossing boundaries and making inappropriate, reckless decisions much like Maggie does.
In all this dysfunction, Sarah Jaks is Jared’s unlikely silver lining. Despite having vastly different personalities and interests, they share the experience of having a tumultuous family and can rely on each other for support. Their feelings intensify quickly, and Sarah’s own struggles with mental health and drug use become a major factor in the development of their relationship. Other than Nana Sophia and Sarah, the Jakses are the only secure and stable presence in Jared’s life. Mrs. Jaks fills the supportive, kind maternal void in Jared’s life, especially following the night David abused him. Maggie’s reaction to David’s assault demonstrates just how manic her violence can be and how much she prioritizes not being weak. While her crazed attack against David was in defense of her child, her response only further traumatized and scared Jared.
In response to this trauma, Jared commits his first act of magic, though he still considers it to be a dream—his spirit leaves his body, and he enters the spiritual realm, where he meets Mrs. Jaks’ spirit. Subconsciously, on a spiritual level, Jared seeks out Mrs. Jaks for reassurance, safety, and comfort on the most traumatic night of his life, further characterizing her as Jared’s true guardian. Jared keeps this moment to himself, just as he does with his encounters with Wee’git, fearing what it suggests about his mental health and how others might perceive it. Throughout the novel, Jared dismisses and ignores his magic, including the persistent voice in his head, worried that “that’s what crazy people” think (125).