Fish in a Tree: Chapter 18 Summary & Analysis

Keisha flounces to her seat, annoyed because Mr. Daniels asked her to do a paper again since she can do better. Ally realizes she's never heard this from Mr. Daniels and it suddenly bugs her. She wants to fit in and be told that what she's submitting isn't good enough, since she knows it isn't good. Mr. Daniels hasn't asked Ally to write in several days, even though she's not wearing the fake sling anymore. She doesn't know if she's ready to admit she can't write or if she wants to keep pretending. Ally writes something without even trying to get it right and then gives it to Mr. Daniels directly. He looks at it briefly and then tells her to put it in the assignment cubby. Ally walks away without taking it.

In the cafeteria, Keisha addresses Albert and says she wants to talk about his Flint shirt. He corrects her that he has five of the same shirt. Keisha goes on to say that she searched for Flint and discovered that it's a place in Michigan, a rock, and a kind of sneaker. Albert looks uncomfortable. Finally, with gentle prodding from Ally, Albert says that Flint is a Star Trek character who goes to his own planet, makes robots to protect him, and left Earth so he'd be free from unkind people. Albert says that a lot of people aren't nice to him, and he understands the appeal.