Part 2 Chapter 8 Summary

The Lakeridge School is surrounded by pastures. A dozen girls eat together, but Ruth sits apart. The girls form an retinue for Imogene Lindgren, whom the boys try to impress. During hide-and-seek, boys versus girls, for a kiss or glimpse of underwear, Imogene hides in a concrete culvert, where messy, purposefully odd Ruth is shooting marbles alone. Her one dead, black tooth gets Ruth teased regularly. The school's marble champion, Imogene recruits talented Ruth to beat swaggering Bert Weiss and win his blue aggie. Ruth bungles her early shots on purpose to lure him in and agrees to put up her black tooth as a bet. Blood spurts when the tooth is pulled. Imogene gives Ruth a handkerchief. Ruth quickly defeats Bert and gives Imogene the marble that she intends to keep forever. Imogene asks if it is true that Ruth's...