Chapter 5: Primate Behavior Summary

Colin sits in the cafeteria eating his lunch of crunchy foods and observing the social groupings of high schoolers with the objectivity of an anthropologist. He tries to make a chart delineating social status, noting the popular jocks, the popular for popularity's sake, the nerds, etc. He wonders how Rudy Moore, despite nerd-level intelligence has stayed popular, and notes that Melissa, despite new-found popularity, stays friendly with nerds and jocks alike. For her birthday, Melissa's friends Emma and Abby have brought a cake to school, and Melissa invites Colin over to eat some. Colin bluntly refuses due to cake's "mushiness," but Melissa is undeterred by his pseudo-rudeness and promises him a "crunchy" treat in the future.

Wayne Connelly helps himself to the cake without being invited, upsetting Emma and Abby, but Melissa's reaction is more mysterious. The exchange between...