Dumplin

Willowdean spends time with Mitch. They eat lunch together, play video games, and Will eats dinner at Mitch’s house. Mitch tells Willowdean that his mom wants him to ask Will to Homecoming. Mitch is telling Willowdean how he doesn’t think he can leave town after high school and leave his mom when Will notices Tim walking past them. Will begs Tim to help her win back Ellen’s friendship. Tim says he will try but that he doesn’t think he will be able to do anything to change El’s mind. Then he tells Will that he really hates Callie.

One night at the Chili Bowl, Willowdean’s former boss, Ron, comes to ask Will to come back and work for him: “I may be old, but I’m not dumb. I don’t know what happened, but whatever it was, I promise the boys will be on their best behavior” (218). Willowdean thinks about how nice Ron has been to her and tells him that she will think about it. Thinking about it, Will knows that she made more money at Harpy’s. Knowing that Bo is now with Bekah, she goes to Harpy’s after her shift at the Chili Bowl is over and asks Ron for a raise and for days off in the summer (for the pageant). He agrees, and she agrees to come back to work at Harpy’s.

At her first night back at Harpy’s, Marcus tells Willowdean that Bo almost got fired a couple weeks after Willowdean quit. He said Bo was only allowed to work at Harpy’s if he stayed in the kitchen because when he worked the register, he refused to serve guys who came in from his old school. When Willowdean gets her bag in her locker before going home, she finds a red sucker.

At home, Willowdean’s mother is hemming pageant dresses for Bekah and her friend Lacy. Bekah notices Willowdean’s Harpy’s uniform and mentions that while she hasn’t asked him yet, Bo is going to be her escort for the pageant. About Bo, Lacy says: “He’s a strange one” (225). Willowdean finds out that her mother is doing dress alterations for extra cash and that earlier in the night, Ellen and her mother were at Willowdean’s house. Mrs. Dixon asks Will about Ellen and says that the two girls will work things out, adding: “Me and Luce always did” (226). Willowdean then asks her mother if she ever misses Lucy. Her mother says yes and tells Will she misses Lucy all the time.

On the day of Homecoming, Will comes to school to find a giant mum made by Mitch’s mom on her second period desk. No one has given Willowdean a Homecoming mum before, but Will has to work that night and can’t take off because she is taking days off for the pageant. Will can’t go to the Homecoming dance with Mitch. That night, Callie and her boyfriend go to Harpy’s with Ellen and Tim. At first, Willowdean is upset that they would show up, but then she realizes that Tim set the visit up just like Will asked him to. When Will asks Ellen how she is, Callie tells Ellen that she doesn’t owe anything to Will. Ellen agrees, and they all leave.

Bo tells Willowdean that he is glad that she is back at Harpy’s but sad that she felt the need to leave. They talk some more, but when they leave, Willowdean finds Mitch outside, waiting for her: “It’s horrible of me, but I resent him being here. I’m like one of those people who doesn’t like for their food touch. I need for Mitch to stay on his side of the plate” (233).

Will goes trick or treating with Mitch after work. After, they lay in the grass talking and Mitch kisses Will. Will admits to herself that she doesn’t feel with Mitch what she felt with Bo. Bo sends Will a text message saying that he is glad that she is back.

Because the dress that Willowdean’s mother has worn every year since she won the pageant no longer fits, she tells Will that she will be fasting until the pageant. She will also go to Pilates every night, so Will can no longer have the car in the evenings. Her mother is supposed to pick her up at work, but Mrs. Dixon falls asleep and doesn’t show up until Will calls to remind her of the driving arrangement. Bo agrees to wait with Will until her mother shows up. They sit in Bo’s truck and talk while they wait.

Willowdean references that Bo’s family has a lot of money because he went to private school, and he snaps at her for the assumption. Bo had a basketball scholarship to the school, but Willowdean never knew this. As she gets into her mother’s car, her mother talks to Bo. Bo tells Will’s mother that he can drive Will to and from work every day.

The next day, in World History, Bo sits in Amanda’s seat next to Willowdean. He continues to sit there for the rest of the week. At work, he whistles “Jolene” as he cooks in the kitchen, which turns Willowdean’s knees “to mush” (250). As he drives Will home, Bo tells her about losing his basketball scholarship to private school because he hurt his knee and then got into a physical fight with one of his classmates.

When Willowdean admits she has no talent for the pageant’s talent show, Mitch gives her a magic book. Willowdean doesn’t like the idea of performing magic tricks but figures she has no other choice.