Summary: Chapter 9

Park

Park wants to tell Eleanor how blown away he was by her poem recitation in English class. He saves his new comics to read on the bus in the morning.

Eleanor

Eleanor knows that Park knows she is reading his comics. He waits for her to start a new comic book, Watchmen, and they only get halfway through Watchmen on the way to school. In the afternoon, instead of reading ahead without her, he opens up to the place where they’ve left off. When they reach Eleanor’s stop, Park hands the comic book to her. She reads it three more times that night.

Park

Park worries whether or not Eleanor will give the book back.

Eleanor

The next morning, Eleanor hands him the comic.

Summary: Chapter 10

Eleanor

The following morning, Park puts a stack of comics on Eleanor’s seat. When she gets home, she reads them until Richie yells at her to turn the light out.

Park

Park marvels at how quickly Eleanor reads the comics he gives her. When she returns them, not only are they pristine, but they smell like roses. One day, Park doesn’t have any comics to give her, and he realizes he’ll have to talk to her. He notices the title of a Smiths song written on her textbook and asks her if she likes the Smiths, which is the first time either of them has spoken to the other. She says that she doesn’t, and the conversation stops awkwardly.