That night, Katherine meets Michael’s parents for the first time at his graduation ceremony. After the ceremony, Katherine attends a party at Michael’s parents’ home. Katherine makes small talk with one of Michael’s uncles, who says he hears Katherine will be attending college in Denver. He then asks Katherine what she wants to do with her life, and when Katherine states, “I want to be happy [...]. And make other people happy too” (173), the uncle responds that that is nice, but not enough. Katherine excuses herself from the conversation. Michael and Katherine return to her house after the party and have sex in the den. Afterward, Katherine thinks, “This is how it should be—forever” (175) between them.

It rains on Katherine’s graduation night, so only her parents attend the ceremony inside. The next morning, Katherine and Michael leave for Long Beach Island to spend the weekend at Erica’s family home there. None of them mention that Artie was also supposed to join them on the trip. Four days later, Katherine and Jamie leave for camp in New Hampshire.