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As Chase sits at the school lunch table, Brendan grabs him by the shoulder, surprising him. Chase says his dad asked him to find his birth certificate so he can see another doctor for permission to play football. In the process he found the document ordering him to do community service.

Chase is troubled by the judge’s description of him and his misbehavior. He only realized how bad his behavior had been after reading the judge’s words. He describes how people avoid him and how he has had flashbacks of his behavior.

Chase asks Brendan just how bad a person he was before his accident. Brendan shows Chase a scar above his eyebrow that Chase caused when he forced Brendan’s head into a water fountain. Brendan says Chase never even looked back to see if he had hurt Brendan. When Brendan walks away, Chase finds himself full of remorse knowing he cannot undo all the bad things he did before his accident. He guesses that he, Aaron, and Bear bullied others so they could feel big. Now he is afraid of the fear he sees in Joel’s eyes.

Chase describes his improving relationship with Shoshanna. They work together as two partners, with him becoming the coproducer of her video. He follows her to her house and waits outside while she goes in to back up their video on her computer. He hears Joel playing the piano marvelously, which causes Chase to feel guilty about making Joel’s life so miserable. Suddenly, the Weber’s dog attacks Chase, causing him to fall into a bayberry bush, where he is scratched up and trapped. Mrs. Weber, called by Joel, comes outside to confront Chase. Shoshanna explains that Chase was just waiting and not stalking. They help Chase out of the bush, and Mrs. Webber takes Chase into the house and uses antiseptic to clean his cuts and scratches. They all seem to enjoy the fact that he is in pain.

The next time he walks to Shoshanna’s house with her, Chase waits outside far away from the window. Joel sees him, making Chase afraid that either the dog or Mrs. Weber will come and confront him. Joel surprises him by opening the window and continuing to play the piano.

Chase describes the new lunch situation at the middle school. He alternates his days between sitting with the video club and sitting with the football team. The football team has a hard time understanding why he sits with the “video dweebs” (153). When Aaron and Bear criticize him for being close to Joel, Chase talks about how wrong it was for them to bomb the piano. They challenge his allegiance to them, and Chase begins to understand how his mind worked before his accident.

The chapter ends with Chase recounting when he and Shoshanna finished making the video about Solway, and they took the finished project to her house before showing it to him. She invited him inside, and he entered with great misgivings. Mrs. Weber and Joel looked at him and said nothing. Even the dog wagged its tail.

Bear Bratsky describes the whole school going to the auditorium for a special assembly. He and Aaron sit by one another and bully the kids in front of them, causing them to move and leaving more room for Aaron and Bear. They’re surprised that the assembly is called to award special recognition to Chase and Shoshanna for the video they made about Solway.

They view the entire 40-minute video. Bear and Aaron are very concerned about this. The fact that Solway is the subject of the documentary makes them extremely nervous. They view this as the final straw demonstrating that Chase is no longer their friend. Instead, he has buddied up with the family that sentenced them to community service. They view this as a personal insult. The two friends decide to get even with Chase. Aaron says he has an idea that will help Chase remember who his real friends are.

Brendan’s Leaf Man video did not go viral. Worse, it illuminated a problem between Kimberly and himself: They have very different senses of humor.

He has an idea for a new video that will entail him playing every instrument in the band on a green screen, so it looks as if the entire band is made up just of Brendan successfully playing all the instruments. Joel reserves the music room so he can make the video. Brendan intricately describes how he makes himself appear to be in a tuxedo when he’s really just covered with black shoe polish and wearing his father’s bow tie. Brendan plays a continuous loop of the song “For He’s a Jolly Good Fellow” as he pretends to play all the instruments; Joel and Kimberly film him. The last instrument is the tuba—actually a sousaphone—which constrains Brendan as he puts it on.

When he starts to play, the door bursts open, and a tidal wave of white foam floods the room. Bear and Aaron come in with fire extinguishers, spraying everyone down. Joel is totally covered, and they mock him for being “the loser” (163) who caused them so much trouble. When Brendan yells to Kimberly to go get Chase, the boys say that Chase is the one who sent them to get revenge on Joel. Kimberly runs out of the room to find Chase in Mrs. Solomon’s class.

When Joel tells the boys to be careful with the instruments because he is responsible for them, Aaron and Bear begin throwing all the instruments around, making a lot of noise and causing a great deal of damage. Brendan is stuck in the sousaphone and cannot get out to help. Chase comes into the room and confronts them about what’s happening. Aaron tries to make it sound as if they sent Kimberly to get him to join in with them. As Chase is taking a fire extinguisher away from Aaron, it strikes Joel in the head, knocking him to the ground under the foam.

Mrs. Gilbride, the music teacher, enters and begins to yell, asking where Joel is. Joel sits up from where he was concealed beneath the foam. He has a big black eye. The teacher takes Joel to see the doctor. Chase, Aaron, and Bear march to the principal’s office, followed by Kimberly. Brendan remains stuck by himself in the sousaphone. He wrestles with the possibility that Chase was faking his friendship as a part of this plan to wreak havoc upon Joel. At the end of the chapter, Kimberly returns and helps Brendan out of the sousaphone. His heart soars with the possibility that she might like him.