Kate Malone is out for a late-night run. It is early spring, and she has found that running at night helps her relax. It’s her escape: “I wish I never had to stop” (4). She feels a ghost hover about her called “Bad Kate.” While Kate is an honors student, a formidable cross-country runner, and “the sweet little preacher’s daughter” (21), Bad Kate is “bitchy,” arrogant, and reckless.

When Kate gets home, she checks on her younger brother, 14-year-old Toby, and then irons clothes. Kate’s mother died from pneumonia when she was in fourth grade. Since then, Kate has run the household. Her father has a busy schedule and relies on Kate. Tonight, Kate knows she will not sleep much, and worries about her application to MIT. She had not applied anywhere else, which no one else knows. As she struggles to sleep, she ponders: “When does night end and morning begin?” (13). Night is the only time she allows her thoughts to drift from her school and home duties.

The next morning, Kate goes into automatic: She prepares breakfast and makes sure Toby has taken his asthma medications. Her father, who got in late, scours the paper for subjects for his sermon.