Jack Will’s mother receives a call from Mr. Tushman before school starts. He learns that Mr. Tushman wants him to be a welcome buddy for a new student who has “something wrong with his face…or something like that” (135). Jack Will’s mother is proud of her son, especially because it seems that other teachers have recommended Jack Will for the role. Jack Will, however, doesn’t want to help, which shocks his mother. He’s angry because school doesn’t start until September and he doesn’t want to be there before he has to. He also already knows who the student is, and tells his mother—to her shock (at the word)—that the child in question is “deformed” (135).

At the age of five or six, Jack Will eats ice cream with his younger brother Jamie and their babysitter, Veronica, in front of a store. He sits next to Auggie, and when he sees Auggie’s face, he gasps. Though Auggie doesn’t hear, Via does. When Jamie notices Auggie, Veronica makes them all leave the store so that Jamie won’t say anything mean. As Veronica, whom they call “Vonica,” pushes Jamie’s stroller away, she chastises them for acting so rudely toward Auggie.