Summary: Chapter 19: Tiresias in Love

Tessie makes an appointment for Callie to see Dr. Bauer, a gynecologist.

While the family prepares to go to Turkey, Callie wants to stay in Grosse Pointe because she’s in love.The Object invites Callie to her family’s swim club. Callie wears an old swimsuit that has a skirt for coverage. The Object wants Callie to come with her family to their summer house in August, but Callie will be in Turkey. The Object’s brother, Jerome, comes over to bother the girls. He tells Callie about the monster movie he wants to make: Vampires in Prep School . It’s about a prep-school boy who discovers that his headmaster is a vampire, a metaphor for how the older generation turns the new one into the living dead.

Callie sleeps over at the Object’s house. They rub each other’s backs, and Callie asks the Object if she’s ever been to the gynecologist. The Object describes her experience with horror and warns that Dr. Bauer is the father of one of their classmates and a pervert. Another night that Callie sleeps over, the Object asks why Callie is never naked in front of her and promises that she would never judge her because they’re best friends. Callie is overjoyed.

Back at home, Callie dreads her upcoming gynecologist visit and starts attending church again to pray for her period to start. Tessie worries about Chapter Eleven, who has dropped out of college and isn’t taking care of himself.

Callie and the Object go to a party at a classmate’s house. They check each other’s breath for freshness before they go in. Jerome surprises Callie by asking if she wants to be in his vampire movie. Callie reminds him that she’s going to Turkey.The Object flirts with Jerome’s friend Rex, who got his previous girlfriend killed in a drunk driving accident. Callie pulls the Object away, and the Object gets upset. Callie claims the Object’s breath is onion-y and she was saving the Object from embarrassment. The Object rests her head on Callie’s shoulder and says that things between them are too weird, so it’s good Callie’s leaving.

The next day in church, Callie feigns getting cramps. Tessie thinks it’s her period and is excited and relieved.Turkey invades Cyprus, igniting war with Greece, and the family cancels their trip.

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