The next section of Holding Up the Universe is titled “Now,” and the story moves back into the present. Libby encourages Iris to tell the principal about what happened, but Iris declines. Libby then meets with her counselor, Rachel Mendes, for their weekly meeting ata local park. Rachel met with Libby daily after her stint in the hospital, and now, Libby thinks of Rachel as her best friend. The two discuss the rodeo incident, as well as Libby’s handling of her own anxiety issues.

The narrative switches back to Jack who is at Masselin’s Toys, the family business. Jack’s dad enters the store office and confronts Jack about his quitting advanced chemistry. Jack takes this as a sign that his dad is still seeing Monica Chapman behind his mother’s back. When Jack gets home, he talks to Dusty, whose purse was vandalized by his classmates. Jack offers to make or buy him a new one, but Dusty decides he would rather have a robot “that can be my friend” (107). Jack immediately sets out to find components for the robot in thebasement, which is “like a warped version of Santa’s workshop” (109), full of discarded toys and parts.