History—Age Sixteen
- When Vera and Charlie are sixteen, he gets his first detention for smoking. He tells her that all the Detentionheads are losers and that they just ignore him, and then he gets detention two more times that month.
- In the meantime, Vera is busy begging her dad for her mom's old car. She even gets a fast food job and her driver's license, but her dad still won't relent.
- During Christmas break, Charlie finally gets his new bike and Vera invites him in for hot chocolate one day. He tells her that she's still his best friend even if he has a bunch of new friends.
- She asks him if he's still seeing the creepy guy, and he says that he is. When her dad comes home, she walks Charlie outside and he gives her a big hug; she promises not to tell anyone about how he sells his underwear.
- Vera goes back inside and her father tells her that they make a cute couple. This makes Vera mad since he's always told her that she's not allowed to date Charlie, so she snaps back and asks him why he'd want her to date someone who will grow up to be a wife-beater.
- During the spring, Charlie starts working at the convenient store where Vera's dad worked when he was their age. Vera saves up money to buy her own cell phone, although her dad still won't let her drive her mom's car.
- Charlie and Vera still hang out and go to the pagoda together over the summer. They're both working a lot, though, and Charlie is dating other girls (though he doesn't tell Vera about this).
- Junior year starts, and Vera is still invisible while Charlie is a popular motorcycle-riding student.
- Vera's dad is working more, so he asks her to take fewer hours at work so that he can still drive her, which Vera thinks is ridiculous and makes her mad. When her dad won't let her have the car (still), she texts Charlie.
- They both go up to the Master Oak and climb up. They don't talk much; Charlie just smokes and Vera thinks about telling him to kiss her, but she doesn't. Then the next week, Vera turns seventeen.