Eight Madmen, the Biggest Asshole in Ohio, and One Very Normal Guy
- Because of taking the first bus, Karl arrives early to Gratz's class. The only other person there is Cheryl, who is notorious for being not only queen of the popular girls but also queen of the Madmen.
- Cheryl may look great on the outside, but like her Madman compatriots, things are kind of messed up at home. Her grandpa lives with her family and has been behaving inappropriately with Cheryl and her little sister, Sammy.
- Cheryl and Karl talk about this until more students begin to arrive.
- Among them are the rest of the Madmen—Danny, a football player and Future Farmer of America whose dad beats him; Darla, who is best friends with a stuffed rabbit and abused her little brother; and, of course, Paul.
- There's also a new girl, Marti, who has wire glasses and bad acne and the audacity to speak to Gratz before he speaks to her. It's hate at first sight.
- Gratz is really fired up about America and having been in Vietnam, and he is particularly stoked because his class is going to read Huckleberry Finn.
- After class, Gratz ticks off Karl something awful when he calls all the Madmen's names and asks them to stay after class for a brief announcement. So much for being seen as normal when he gets called up with all of the crazies.
- Gratz tells the Madmen that he isn't exactly thrilled about having most of his class miss every other Monday morning, so if they want out of therapy, he's on their side. Still, the students walk away mocking him and calling him bad names for embarrassing them in front of everyone.
- Next up on Karl's schedule is trig, where he gets to see Bonny, his other Madman acquaintance whom he briefly dated and took to the prom.
- Bonny's story is that her parents own a consignment shop in Toledo, which is a bit of a drive, and as a result, they aren't home a whole lot. This means Bonny is in charge of the house and her younger siblings, as well as the bills.
- Bonny and Karl banter about having to work multiple jobs. Karl makes an off-color remark about school being a joke just as the teacher walks in. Oops. Luckily, she's not one to write kids up for bad behavior.
- In gym class, Karl runs on the track outside and reconnects with another Madman, Squid Cabrillo. Squid's dad went to prison when he was a kid, and when he got out, he left Squid's mom for a hillbilly babe several years younger than him.
- It gets worse: Squid's mom died, and now he's stuck with Dad and Hillbilly Babe—and taking physical abuse from his dad.
- You're probably wondering why these kids never say anything to anybody about how terrible and hard their lives are. It's simple—rat on their parents and social services gets involved, and then the next thing they know, parents are getting arrested and kids are put into foster care. That's just, you know, a lot.
- Coach Korviss tries to talk Karl into running track and cross country, but Karl's heavy work schedule doesn't allow for it.