Summary
Bug bikes over to Griffin's house wearing a dress. He thinks the dress is nice but still feels like something is off about his appearance. He arrives at his house and nearly trips when his clothes get snagged on the seat. He talks to Griffin and asks if he can borrow the book he checked out at the library that day. Griffin invites him inside but he says no, feeling out of place. He thanks Griffin for the book and leaves. Griffin tells him he is welcome to come over whenever.
He returns home and tries to use the Ouija board again. He drags the planchette, the object that is used to select letters, across the board. He receives a series of messages saying that it is his uncle Roderick and that Bug should "B-U," which Bug finally realizes means "be you[rself]." He goes over Griffin's book again, which says that often unsettled spirits are trying to impart a message, or advice, when they haunt a house. He is uncertain about exactly what he meant, but feels confident that he can figure it out.
Bug goes upstairs and explores. He finds a box full of Roderick's old costume pieces. He recounts a time in which they did a joint Halloween costume where Roderick was Beauty and Bug was the Beast from the movie Beauty and the Beast. He says that later he discovers another box, full of articles about transgender people. Bug's mom comes home and says she was in town looking for another job. They look at the papers and Bug's mom recognizes them, saying he used to collect them. Bug feels like these papers are part of the message he was trying to impart to him.
Bug returns to Griffin's house to talk about the book he borrowed. Griffin invites him to hang out and he decides to go into his house, feeling more comfortable in his t-shirt and jeans than he did in the dress. Griffin serves him lemonade and asks how he knows so much about ghosts. He says that his uncle died recently. Griffin says he's sorry for his loss.
Bug also brings up the fact that many of the pamphlets aren’t so much about biology or anatomy as they are about feeling at home in your body. Bug says he isn’t trans but relates to a lot of the emotions that are described, particularly the ones about feeling as though people are seeing you incorrectly. He says he wishes he had a more definitive sense of himself. He then realizes that he thinks his uncle was transgender and has been trying to communicate that to him. Bug is extremely upset, as he feels like his uncle never got to be the person he actually wanted to be. Bug wonders if this means his uncle was transgender.
Bug talks to his mom and asks if she thought Roderick was transgender. Bug’s mom says that she doesn’t think he was because he was also so confident about who he was. She adds that it was something she really loved about him. Bug asks what she would have said if he was, and she says that she would have loved him as a sister. Bug remains uncertain about what the meaning of the box of papers is.
In the next chapter, Bug says that he hasn’t been haunted by his uncle in about two weeks. He heads over to Moira’s house for a birthday party. Moira throws him a surprise party and invites their two new friends and three older girls she met at the mall, named Chloe, Hypatia, and Chelsea. The older girls are nice to Bug and Moira, giving them advice about the coming school without being condescending. He notes that these girls don't talk that much about makeup or clothes and sometimes mention boys but don't overemphasize them. Bug talks about sometimes imagining shaving his head and having stubble and how this thought gives him comfort. They give Bug a makeover and Bug feels a little uncomfortable but not overwhelmed. They talk a bit and then go to bed. That night Bug has a dream about his uncle, dressed in drag, giving him a haircut.
Analysis
Gender is a central focus of these chapters, as Bug begins to realize what his uncle was trying to communicate with him. Bug finds a box of articles and pamphlets about being transgender that elucidate some important feelings for him. He reads that often people who are transgender have this feeling of being somehow off, sensing that what people are perceiving them as is somehow incorrect. While he isn’t certain if he is transgender, this resonates for him, as he constantly feels as though people aren’t seeing him accurately and that he doesn’t even really know exactly who he is. The moments of relief he does find indicate that he does not really feel like a woman: looking at Griffin and imagining himself looking like him, envisioning himself having stubble and a shaved head. Gender is important in these chapters as Bug begins to see how he is not alone in feeling that the gender assigned to him at birth isn’t exactly reflective of who he is internally.
Haunting is also a motif in this section of the book. After going to the library, Bug begins to realize that Roderick isn’t trying to scare him, but rather trying to communicate something important. As he discovers more items from his past and is led, slowly, to the box containing the material about transgender people, this message comes into focus. This motif is significant in that Bug differentiates the regular ghosts in his house from Roderick, as his intervention is more pointed and specific. He has unfinished business with him, but it comes from a place of love and concern. In this way, the book’s early supernatural elements give way to something more tender and compassionate.
Friendship is another major theme in these chapters. Bug begins to develop a friendship with a boy named Griffin. He feels somewhat awkward around him initially, as he is uncertain of how to act. The first time he goes to his house, he feels uncomfortable being in a dress. However, the second time, he is dressed in jeans and a t-shirt, putting him more at ease. They share lemonade and talk about ghosts while Bug wonders what it’d be like if he was also a boy. Bug appreciates his newfound friendship in a different way than his friendship with Moira. While Moira has known him longer, he often, unintentionally, feels as though he is doing something wrong, as she seems to know a lot about being a girl and enjoys dresses, makeup, and discussing boys. In contrast, Griffin gives Bug an idea of what it might be like to be a boy, representing something that might be appealing to him.
Coming of age is also a significant theme in this part of the book. For Bug’s birthday, Moira throws a sleepover and invites a number of girls, including some older ones. These older girls are nice to them and give them advice about the coming school year. While Bug likes them, and feels like he didn’t embarrass himself, he remains nervous. Their advice is not ultimately comforting because Bug is still uncomfortable with being a girl. For Bug, the prospect of getting older makes him very nervous, as he is suddenly faced with becoming a teenage girl and, later, a woman. Both possibilities frighten him greatly. Bug is not a typical coming-of-age-story protagonist in that he is on a different sort of journey of self-discovery.
This part of the book shows Bug moving closer and closer to an understanding of who he really is. The reader finds him slowly beginning to articulate the source of his anxiety and confusion. With the help of his uncle's ghostly intervention, he is on the precipice of discovering who he really is. The chapters represent the lead-up to his major revelation, as he reckons with the tension he has been facing.
