The chapter opens with a conversation between bud and his mom. They're talking about whether or not they're going to go to college together, and bud tells his mom that he wants to go, but that he's waiting for her to tell him that she's going to let him go. He's surprised that his mom won't tell him he can go, because he'd be surprised if she didn't want him to go somewhere else. He also tells her that he has had to leave the room more and more since they arrived, and that he wishes he could find a place to stay. He says that he knows his mom would be surprised that he couldn't be anywhere else, but he also knows that he would be shocked if his mom wouldn't let him stay, too. He tells her about how he used to be a nobody in high school, and how he was embarrassed about his boobs, so he would wear them down with a bandage every morning. Now, he tells her, he knows that she is lying about how much men don't stare at her. He adds that if he were good enough, he could have sex with other men, too, and he says that his roommate and her boyfriend make him feel like the "odd girl" out of college.