- It’s the third week in November, and Dicey gets her report card.
- She got an F in home ec. Whoops. Apparently Miss Eversleigh wasn’t down with the janky apron.
- But wait, it gets worse: she got a C+ in English, in which she’s been getting A’s all along. What's that all about?
- When Gram has to sign Dicey’s report card that night, she wants to know what the deal is.
- Dicey says home ec is no biggie and English is a mistake, which she honestly believes.
- In the meantime, Maybeth’s laying down a little Bach on the piano, and Dicey’s impressed.
- The next day, Jeff comes into Millie’s grocery store while Dicey’s scrubbing the floors and Millie’s talking about chickens. Jeff tries to talk to Dicey, but she gives him the cold-as-ice routine, so he buys a bag of sugar and splits. Poor Jeff.
- Millie remembers that Gram called and told Dicey to stay at work until Sammy showed up. Then she tells Dicey that Gram is happier now that she’s got Dicey and her siblings, and Dicey feels pretty good about that.
- Sammy shows up and Dicey gives him a ride home on her bike. Turns out he was in detention for kissing a girl in class, but he only did it because he lost a pull-up contest on a bet.
- Dicey knows the other boys made the bet because Sammy was the smallest and they knew he’d lose. And now—we bet you saw this coming—Sammy wants a pull-up bar in the barn so he can bulk up.
- At home, Maybeth is reading Green Eggs and Ham, because James has started teaching her phonics with flash cards. She’s getting better, and Dicey and James are proud.
- The next day, Sammy comes home from school all beat up. He got in a fight on the bus. Gram asked what happened, but he just says a bigger kid beat him up and won’t say what it was about.
- The next day in home ec, Dicey’s trying to figure out the reason for the fighting while Miss Eversleigh goes on about nutrition.
- Then she gives them an assignment: plan meals for a family of four for $50. This is easy for Dicey, since she fed her family all summer. They had peanut butter, stale baked goods, chicken wings, bananas, apples, and milk.
- She writes all that down and then starts drawing stale donuts and chicken wings in the margins of her paper. Miss Eversleigh comes by Dicey’s desk and writes at the top, "F. Nobody could live for long on meals like this."
- Surprisingly, Dicey doesn’t yell, "MY FAMILY DID, JERK," which is exactly what we would have done. Instead she says nothing, because she’s Dicey and Dicey's hardcore.
- Miss Eversleigh gives the class a lecture about how important it is to learn to cook, sew, and plan meals. Then she just stares at them for the last five minutes of class, which is awkward.
- Dicey sits there thinking about Sammy, the cost of an electric heater for the barn, and the fact that Mr. Chappelle is going to give them back their essays the following Monday.
- She’s psyched, because she just knows he’s going to love hers.