"I'm not going to try to be a ballerina. And — I'm not planning on denying myself food when I want it, I just — feel kind of sick at the thought of eating. So I'm not going to try and push it." 

"Makes sense. Do you want advice for hiding it from the adults?"

"Yes, please." 

Asher has good advice for hiding it from adults! And also good advice for coping with hunger.

Raine does not actually take notes, but only because she's not confident enough in her ability to keep them hidden. 

Asher can remind her when she forgets, at least until... well, you know.

Yeah. 

Yeah, she does know. 

She doesn't eat much. She gets better at hiding it from the adults. 

Asher enjoys himself greatly in group therapy. He has been gangbanged by incubi! (But not succubi. They wanted to keep his homosexuality pure.) Satan erased his parents' memories which caused them to send him to ex-gay camp! He used dance to ward off demons because it turns out that demons are repelled by the power of classical music which is-- fortunately-- why Christine forbade rock music.

In the evenings he sneaks off with Raine. If Christine knows, there's no point keeping it secret. They fuck. He recites her poetry. He carves "Asher + Raine <3" into a tree so that she can look at it when he's gone. 

Lev is distracted in group. He talks to Marlo a lot about Christianity; he is unconvinced. When he's supposed to be taking notes on the causes of homosexuality or how to prevent relapses, he writes long lists of the evidence for and against the existence of God.

If he's an atheist or-- worse-- a Christian, he's going to be a disappointment, no matter what. But if he decides to believe to make his parents happy, he'll hate himself.

Raine's story in group therapy is still "rejection by same-sex peers." She keeps quiet about crafts, starts hiding her thread in the secret internal pockets in her clothes, under her mattress, inside her pillowcase and fitted sheet, finds something else to do with her hands when Christine is around. (She's not under the impression that she's successfully hiding that she still sews, but out of sight is — a little closer to out of mind.) Hiding needles is harder but she finds places to put them where she won't get poked. 

She eats less and less. She's getting better at hiding it, but at some point it's not going to be possible to hide. In the evenings she has sex with Asher and listens to his poetry and cuddles him and lets herself cling.

She's going to miss him a lot, when he goes. 

Marlo is quiet in group; he'll talk about his parents when he's pushed, but usually he just listens. He keeps a straight face at Asher's stories, is appropriately sympathetic at Raine's. He talks to Lev about Christianity, and knows that he isn't very convincing. 

He doesn't know — there are a lot of things he doesn't know. 

And then one evening Lev goes up to Sasha and says, "I'm well-rested, I think."

"So am I." 

She's gotten good at sneaking out by now. 

"Full house tonight! Hello Lev, hello Marlo, good to see you again. Who are our new arrivals?"

"I'm Raine," she says, before anyone else can introduce her. "And this is Asher." 

"Raine's a girl," Asher says, in case there's confusion.

"Sure. We have a couple of girls already in the van-- this is Sinead and this is Hillary."

(Sinead is goth; Hillary is British.)

Raine smiles at the girls and presses herself against Asher. "I was told there would be makeup?" she says, a little hopeful. 

"Sure! Makeup, skirts, dresses, falsies-- and binders and men's clothes, of course, for those who prefer that."

It's the most relaxed anyone but Asher has seen her since she arrived at camp. "Thank you." 

Lev, on the other hand, looks really really uncomfortable. It is unclear even to him to what extent this is because he is frightened of being gay involving crossdressing, and to what extent this is because he wants to make out with Raine, and to what extent this is because he's concerned that maybe he's cheating on Marlo in his mind by wanting to make out with Raine.

"I also have injectable estrogen."

For just the briefest moment she looks so happy —

— and then she pulls herself back and says "I should probably wait until I'm in a place where it'd be safer." And until I've known this about myself for a matter of months and not weeks. 

"All right. It's your decision."

And they get going to Ron's house.