At seventeen years old, Vivi can’t understand why her father would kill himself, so she assumes that, like the barbershop quartet, he had been keeping some things secret. Had he been fired? （No.） Had he been in financial trouble? （No, although because he committed suicide, the life-insurance policy is null and void, and Vivi and her mother have lost their main breadwinner.） Did he have a lover? （This doesn’t seem likely, though Vivi wonders about their waitress Cindy, because she’s the only other woman Vivi saw her father interact with on a regular basis.）
What can Vivi do but blame the only person left, her mother? Nancy Howe is responsible for Frank’s suicide because she made their lives so cheerless and dull.
There are bitter fights in the days that follow Frank Howe’s death. One starts when Vivi overhears her mother telling someone on the phone that by killing himself, Frank had “chosen to spend eternity in hell.”
“How dare you!” Vivi screams once her mother hangs up. “My father is not in hell!”
Nancy Howe’s expression remains unchanged as she lights a cigarette; now that Frank is dead, she has started smoking in the house. “He committed a cardinal sin.” She exhales. “I don’t make the rules, Vivian Rose. God does.”
Vivi has a boyfriend named Brett Caspian. They started dating back in September, right as senior year began. They’re a bit of an odd couple because Vivi is a “goody-two-shoes”; she takes honors classes and she’s the editor of the school literary magazine. Brett Caspian is a “druggie.” He has long, feathered hair; he wears flannel shirts and jeans and clunky Timberland boots; he smokes and is the lead singer and guitarist for a band called Escape from Ohio. Escape from Ohio plays at all the high-school beer parties, and although Vivi rarely goes to the beer parties—she’s usually home studying—she has been to one or two and thinks the band is pretty good.
The second week of school, Vivi is chosen to attend a fiction-writing workshop given by a Famous Author over at Normandy High. The three-day workshop is transformative. Vivi is something of a shining star, singled out by the Famous Author for her short story about an overweight housewife who thinks her husband is having an affair only to discover that he’s been singing in a barbershop quartet.
The only problem with the three-day workshop is that Vivi has missed three days of her regular classes—AP European history, AP physics, and AP calculus.
She stays after school to make up a quiz in calculus; it’s the first quiz of the year, on derivatives. Vivi’s calculus teacher, Mr. Emery, also happens to have detention duty—and the only kid in detention that day is Brett Caspian.
Brett is sitting two rows ahead and one seat to Vivi’s left, lounging like he’s at the beach, his feet up on the chair in front of him. He has his binder on the desk and a pen with a chewed cap in his hand but he makes no move to do any homework. Instead, he taps the pen in a complicated drum rhythm, staring at the ceiling first and then at Mr. Emery, who is completely immersed in grading papers. Vivi does her best to ignore Brett Caspian, though the tapping is distracting. She looks up and starts to ask him to please stop, but as soon as she takes a breath, he turns and winks at her.
Is it fair to say this wink changes Vivi’s life?
Her whole body flushes and she can no longer concentrate on derivatives. It must have been a sarcastic wink because, in high school in 1986, Vivian Howe isn’t someone who gets winked at. She’s wearing a khaki A-line skirt and a petal-pink polo and a pair of off-brand boat shoes that she begged her mother for at Higbee’s. She’s a devotee of The Official Preppy Handbook and tries to create the looks on a budget. The looks are not sexy or inviting.
Mrs. Shepherd from the office buzzes through on the intercom. “Dave, you have a phone call.”
Mr. Emery’s head pops up. He looks disoriented, like he’s been asleep or underwater. He blinks at Vivi and Brett as though he has no idea who they are or what they’re doing in his classroom.
He stands up. “Be right back. Vivi, when you’re finished, leave the quiz on my desk, please.”
Brett says, “Aren’t you afraid I’m going to tell her all the answers?”
Mr. Emery surprises them both by laughing, then leaves the room.
Now they’re alone. Vivi tries to concentrate on the numbers and letters. The derivative of x2 is 2x. The derivative of 2x is 2. She finishes the quiz, no problem. Ten minutes has passed and Mr. Emery still isn’t back. Vivi finds herself reluctant to leave. She double-checks then triple-checks her answers. Finally, she can dawdle no longer. She drops her quiz on Mr. Emery’s desk.