Turtles All the Way Down

On her way to history class, Aza checks the "Human Microbiota" Wikipedia article again. Her mom yells at her from her classroom to put her phone away, and Aza goes into her mom's classroom. Aza’s mom (to whom Aza refers throughout the rest of the book as “Mom”) asks Aza if she's "not anxious," and confirms that Aza has been taking her meds. Aza tells the reader that she takes her meds about three times per week, though she's supposed to take them daily.

Mom begins to say that Aza looks anxious, but Aza interrupts and asks who decides when the school bells ring and how long class periods are. Mom says that someone at the superintendent's office decides those things and that Aza's brain seems an intense place. Aza muses out loud that she's living on someone else's schedule, and Mom remarks that in regard to bells, schools are much like prisons.

Mom asks if Aza is going straight home after work, and Aza explains her after-school plan with Daisy. When Aza says that Daisy is working at Chuck E. Cheese's to save money for college, Mom begins her "cost of college rant." Aza says that if she doesn't win the lottery, she'll sell meth to pay for school. She leaves for History class when the bell rings.

After school, Aza finds Daisy already sitting in Aza's car (which she calls Harold) drinking a carton of school milk. Aza reminds Daisy that there will be no non-clear liquid inside Harold and makes her throw the milk away. Aza tells the reader that she takes the idea of real love very seriously and found it with Harold, a teal Toyota Corolla that used to belong to Aza’s dad. When she turned 16, Aza spent all of her saved money to get his clunky engine running.

While driving Harold, a person had to choose between driving in silence, listening to the radio, or listening to Side B of a Missy Elliott cassette that won't eject from the player. Aza says that this imperfect system changed her life as she and Daisy scan radio stations. Daisy stops on a news report about Davis Pickett Sr., who disappeared mysteriously the night before the police were set to raid his home and arrest him for fraud and bribery. Mr. Pickett's company, Pickett Engineering, is offering a $100,000 reward for information regarding his disappearance.

Daisy yells excitedly that Aza knew Mr. Pickett's son. Aza explains to the reader that for two years after fifth and sixth grade, she and Davis both went to "Sad Camp," a camp for kids with a deceased parent. They saw each other intermittently while not at camp since they lived just across the river from each other: Aza on the side that floods, and Davis on the side with stone walls that cause Aza's side to flood. Aza insists to Daisy that Davis wouldn't remember her, but Daisy assures her that nobody could forget her.

Daisy continues to talk about the reward money, and Aza says she has homework and can't solve the mystery of Mr. Pickett tonight. Daisy quotes a pop song to convince Aza to join her in solving the mystery. They laugh and Daisy begins reading an article on her phone about Mr. Pickett's disappearance. She reads that there are no surveillance cameras on the Pickett property and therefore no information on Mr. Pickett's disappearance. Daisy asks what billionaire doesn't have security cameras. Aza thinks about it and remembers that Davis and his brother had a motion-activated camera with night vision.

Daisy insists that she and Aza now have a lead. She tells Aza to exit off the freeway. Aza does and gets back on the freeway in the other direction, which will take them back to Aza's house. Daisy calls her boss and says she has the stomach flu, then asks Aza if she still has her canoe.