Dumplin

Second period is the only class that Willowdean and Ellen have together. Because Ellen is late to meet Willowdean, the two don’t get to sit together on the first day of school. Ellen sits with Callie, and Will is stuck sitting next to Mitch Lewis, a football player.

Mitch reminds Willowdean that they haven’t had a class together since 6th grade. Mitch, Clover City’s star football player, is a big guy, and Will resents that his extra weight makes him “athletic” and her extra weight makes her “fat.” The teacher announces that where the students are sitting is where they will sit for the rest of the year. Ellen apologizes to Will for not sitting with her and then leaves with Callie. Willowdean is additionally disappointed that she has not seen Bo all day.

Mitch walks with Willowdean and wants to get to know her. He asks her questions about what she likes to do outside of work. He tells her that he wants to take her out on a date. Will agrees, thinking: “I think this might be a bad idea, but I think a lot of things. And I need to forget Bo. This seems like a good start” (102).

Ellen sees Will give Mitch her phone number and reminds Will that Mitch is friends with the bully Patrick Thomas. Despite the friendship, Will agrees to go out with Mitch on Saturday night. She ignores Bo at work that night and decides to quit Harpy’s and goes to work for the Chili Bowl, a restaurant across the street from Harpy’s.

Bo shows up in Willowdean’s fifth period World History class. He winks at Will as he passes her on the way to his seat. Will is sitting next to Amanda, Millie’s best friend, and Amanda questions if Bo is the same guy Willow works with at Harpy’s.

On Friday, Willowdean goes to Ellen’s house after school. While she is there, Ellen’s mother gives her a photo of Lucy: “Mrs. D brought out the bravest parts of Lucy. I know Lucy was important to Mrs. D, but for Lucy, Mrs. D was a lifeline” (111). El asks her mother why she never entered the town’s pageant, and her mom replies that she didn’t have the confidence when she was of pageant age.

Ellen questions Will why she quit Harpy’s, but Will doesn’t tell her about Bo. The girls talk about Will’s upcoming date with Mitch, and Ellen doesn’t think Mitch is Will’s type. Will says she doesn’t have a type.

When Will gets home, she finds her mother in Lucy’s room. Will’s mother has pushed all the furniture in Lucy’s room to one side, and Will is enraged that all of Lucy’s Dolly Parton records are stacked in a pile. Will’s mother tells Will that she needs a craft room and that they’ve already talked about cleaning out Lucy’s room. Willowdean accuses her mother of trying to erase Lucy from their lives.

Mitch picks up Willowdean for their date and tells her that she looks nice. Will says the same to him. They go to a Chinese restaurant where Mitch sits next to Will in the booth instead of across the table from her. They talk about Ellen, Ellen’s mother, Lucy, and Dolly Parton. Mitch tells Willowdean that his best friend is Patrick Thomas. When Will asks why, Mitch tells her that he has been friends with Patrick for so long that that he still thinks of the little boy Patrick was and not the jerk he is now.

The Chili Bowl is so slow on Willowdean’s first night that she spends the night thinking about Bo. She thinks about how she was confident and happy in her own skin before she met Bo. Now, all she sees when she looks in the mirror is everything that is wrong with her body.

During fifth period, Willowdean asks for a bathroom pass. She’s in the bathroom splashing her face with cold water when Bo comes in the bathroom. He asks her why she quit Harpy’s, and she says that because things didn’t work out with them, she couldn’t see him both at school and at work. After Bo leaves, a classmate, Hannah, comes out of a stall having heard the exchange between Bo and Willowdean.