Wink

On the Tuesday before the talent show, Ross wakes to find the vision in his right eye distorted. According to Dr. Throckton, this is the normal progression for a patient’s loss of sight. Ross struggles to absorb the reality of being blind in one eye.

Later that day, Ross and Abby are eating lunch, when Jimmy unexpectedly joins them. Ross immediately checks his classmates’ reactions. Sarah and Denise are looking in his direction, and he tenses, knowing he’s now publicly associated with Jimmy. As Abby, Ross, and Jimmy talk, Ross hears people’s phones dinging. Jimmy, looking at Ross with apparent compassion, announces he knows who makes the memes. Abby’s phone receives a message—a new meme showing a cartoon of a blind person with a walking stick about to step into an open grave. The face comes from a photograph of Ross, with a hat and dark sunglasses drawn on. Ross realizes he has only told two people about losing his vision: Abby and Sarah.

Ross confronts Sarah, with Abby and Jimmy close behind him. Sarah feigns ignorance, but Jimmy loudly explains that he heard Sarah talk about making the memes. Sarah denies she made all of them. Sarah’s appearance seems to alter, and Ross claims it “has nothing to do with [his] screwed-up eye” (257).