Aristotle and Dante Dive into the Waters of the World

Ari wonders what will become of himself and Dante. Ari struggles to imagine a future for the two of them. He is resentful about the fact that he lives in a world that censors his imagination: “The world I wanted to live in didn’t exist” (192).

Ari writes a journal entry. He writes about a dream he has in which Bernardo refers to Ari and Dante as an anti-gay slur. In the dream, Ari realizes that Dante is dying of AIDS. He wakes up to his mother sitting on his bed, trying to calm him. Ari spends the rest of the day wondering if he and Dante are going to die from AIDS.

Ari is talking with his friends about one of his teachers, Mrs. Livermore. People call her Mrs. More Liver after Gina makes up a story that she is “the kind of mean mother who served her children liver on special occasions” (195). Susie says she cannot stand Mrs. Livermore and deems her a racist person. Susie is always annoyed by Mrs. Livermore’s pointed comments on Mexico and Mexican people.