Summary: Chapter 4

At 1:07 am, as they are driving down the highway, Margo tells Quentin that Jase has been sleeping with her best friend, Becca, and that tonight, she will exact her revenge. Their first stop is at Jase’s car, which they find parked two blocks away from Becca’s house. Margo knows that Jase never locks his car, so she climbs in and attaches The Club to his steering wheel. As they drive to Becca’s house Margo explains the second and third parts of her plan, which Quentin deems brilliant but does not relay to the reader. Margo pulls a pair of binoculars and a camera out of the back of the minivan, and they discover a light on in the basement of the house. At Margo’s direction, Quentin calls Becca’s house and tells her father that Becca and Jase are having sex in the basement. Jase leaps out the window, and Quentin takes a picture of him running away. Jase hasn’t managed to cover himself up entirely, and his penis is right there in the frame. Margo compares his penis to Rhode Island, not favorably.

Quentin and Margo sneak into Becca’s room and grab all of Jason’s clothes from the floor. Margo dictates a note for Quentin, which he writes on one of the wrapped catfish: “A message from Margo Roth Spiegelman: Your friendship with her – it sleeps with the fishes.” Margo hides the fish in Becca’s closet, and then spray-paints the letter M on Becca’s wall.

As Margo and Quentin sneak out of the house, Becca’s father chases them with a shotgun, but they get to the van. Quentin sees Jase and tosses him his shirt. Margo starts yelling, and Quentin thinks she’s mad at him for throwing the shirt, but she’s actually just sad because her suspicions about Jase cheating were confirmed. Quentin’s heart is pounding intensely, either from excitement, anxiety, or both. While he calms down, Margo paints her nails.

Summary: Chapter 5

Margo and Quentin drive to Karin’s house and leave her a bouquet of flowers and apology note. Karin had told Margo about Jase, and Margo had exploded at her with insults, so Margo wants to apologize. Next, they drive to Jase’s house, which is a monstrous McMansion. She writes on a second fish, “MS’s love For you: it Sleeps With the Fishes.” Jase’s house has a very elaborate security system, and as soon as Margo steps on the property, the alarm system starts blaring. She runs up to the house and tosses the fish through a window, shattering the glass. She spray-paints the letter M on the window and runs back to the car. Quentin floors it, and they escape.

The next stop is Lacey Pemberton’s house. Margo says that Lacey insinuates that Margo is fat and didn’t tell her about Jase and Becca, both of which imply that she has been a terrible friend. Margo writes “your Friendship with ms Sleeps with The fishes” on the final catfish, breaks into Lacey’s car, and squishes the fish underneath the backseat. Margo tells Quentin to spray-paint an M on the roof of Becca’s car, and they touch the tips of their pointer fingers together, both blue from the spray paint.

Summary: Chapter 6

Quentin and Margo drive into downtown Orlando because Margo wants to go to the top of the SunTrust building. She’s friends with the security guard, Gus, who lets them in. They climb the stairs to a twenty-fifth floor conference room and survey the dark city from above, which looks much more beautiful than Quentin has ever seen it. Margo points out their houses and then describes Orlando as a “paper town,” which she defines as a place that’s flimsy and fake, built to fall apart. Quentin, not really knowing how to reply, offers her a spot at his lunch table the next day.

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