Chapter 4 Summary

It's February 1989 and Precious is depressed, living in a daze. Ms. Rain says depression is anger turned inward. Ms. Rain, Rhonda, and Jermaine all want Precious to go to counseling, but Precious doesn't understand the point of bringing up the past. Ms. Rain notices that Precious's spelling gets much worse when she's mad. They all try to prop Precious up. Precious says she only feels bad because she has been diagnosed with HIV. She feels better when she goes to church and writes in her journal.

Precious starts thinking about boys and sex. She goes between wanting to know what it would be like to be loved by a boy and just wanting to have consensual sex with a boy her age. Precious does not want Ms. Rain to see these journal entries. Precious starts writing poetry. One poem is about Harlem and...