Summary

Chapter 13, “Pull-Up Number One,” opens with the word “YES” (86) followed by more than a half-dozen exclamation points. Marc has been training more than two weeks, and he has finally accomplished a pull-up on his own. Marc says the day began as usual but when it was time for him to use the pull-up bar, Jake stopped him from doing the negative pull-ups where he started with his chin on the bar and let himself down as slowly as possible. Marc hesitates, saying he is not ready. There are two similar images in this scene. The first shows Marc saying he should “leave the real pull-ups to the pull-up professionals” (87). The second shows Marc standing under the bar, and the bar is taunting him, saying Marc will never be able to do a pull-up. Jake pushes him to try and Marc pulls himself up...