It is summer fifteen, and when Cady arrives at Beechwood Island, she wants to see Gat because she is in love with him. However, she sees him place dried beach roses in an envelope and mail them to someone else. She is very hurt. She goes to the beach and tears all the roses "off a single sad bush" (16).

Cady learns that Gat has a girlfriend in New York named Raquel. She tries to follow family tradition and "act normal,” saying that she “tilted [her] square chin high" (17). One evening, Gat talks to the other Liars about property. He says, "Maybe land shouldn't belong to people at all" (17). He is also reading very serious books of philosophy that separate him from the others. The others tell him to shut up, and his feelings are hurt. He runs to the water and swims out to a rock. Cady follows and joins him. She consoles him and tells him they all love him. The others join them in the water. They are friends again.

Gat wakes Cady up at night and they go outside and look up at the night sky. Gat admits that after his trip to India, where he saw so much poverty, it’s hard to believe in a God.