Summary
Told from the perspective of the protagonist, Bug, the novel begins with the death of Bug's uncle Roderick. Bug wakes up in his bed at home and gets a feeling that Roderick has passed. His mom returns home and delivers the terrible news, and they cry and hold each other. Friends and family come over to the house for a wake and share their condolences. Bug's friend Moira comforts him. Bug shares that he often sees a face in the mirror that resembles his but isn't quite right.
After the memorial, Bug reflects on his time with his uncle and how much he made an effort to spend time with him. He talks with his mom at the breakfast table and his mom tells him that he can't go to camp this year because they can't afford it. Her greeting-card business is not doing well. He goes to ride his bike and then returns home to go to bed. Before he goes to sleep, he sees a strange, dark figure hovering in front of his door. The following day, Moira comes over and has dinner with Bug and his mom. Moira gives Bug a makeover and Bug nearly faints. He feels like he looks nice but does not feel like himself.
During a sleepover, Moira awakens in the middle of the night and sees a bottle of nail polish that has broken open on the floor. She is frightened by this and Bug tries to figure out what happened. Summer begins and Bug spends a great deal of time alone. Eventually, he begins to have unsettling dreams. In one, he is surrounded by makeup and he looks in the mirror and sees he is a skeleton. He awakens with a jolt when he sees someone behind him. Later he goes over to Moira's house and feels bored and uncomfortable when Moira and some of her new friends talk about boys they think are attractive.
Bug returns home and his mother complains about her business struggles. Bug has another nightmare and feels uncomfortable in the house. He finds a scrawled note on the floor with symbols he can't decipher. Moira comes over and they start looking through things in the house to try and figure out what's been going on. He has another bad dream, and after reflecting on it, realizes that he is likely being haunted by the ghost of his uncle.
Bug's mom has to leave the house to have dinner and talk business with Moira's mom. Bug is anxious about being alone in the house. Doors open and slam loudly shut throughout the house and televisions turn themselves on and off. His mom comes home and says that things don't look good for her job and they might need to sell their home. Bug goes to the library looking for books about ghosts and meets a boy named Griffin who has recently moved to the town.
Moira comes over and they try to contact Roderick with a Ouija board, but fail to do so successfully. They are frightened by a lightning storm. Bug later uses the Ouija board alone and Roderick communicates with him. He tells him to be himself. He stumbles upon a box of papers containing various articles and interviews about transgender people and feels that it must have had something to do with what he was trying to tell him.
Griffin comes over to Bug's house and they look for ghosts. They don't find anything and Griffin goes home. Bug wonders if maybe his uncle was transgender and wasn't able to tell him and his mom. He talks about this theory with his mom but his mom says Roderick was always very aware of who he was and comfortable. She says that if he had been he would have told her, as they were very close. On Bug's birthday, Moira organizes a surprise party with their friends and some older girls she met recently. They talk about school and give Bug a makeover.
That night, Bug falls asleep and has a dream about his uncle, dressed in drag, cutting his hair. He wakes up and finds that his head has been shaved. The girls at the sleepover tell him he looks great, despite being unsettled that this happened inexplicably. Bug finally feels comfortable with the way he looks and realizes he's been a boy all along. Bug rushes home to tell his mom the news. His mom cries happily and hugs him.
He tells Moira and she is similarly happy. They go shopping together to pick out boys' clothing for Bug. Bug starts middle school and feels happy and accepted by the other students. He decides to tell his close friends about his gender identity but asks that they wait to tell everyone else. The novel ends with Bug dreaming about being by a creek with his uncle. Roderick says that he is so happy for Bug and hugs him.
