Chapter 9 opens with the students in the hospital lounge as they await the outcome of Mr. Terupt’s surgery. Students, administrators, and teachers come to support Mr. Terupt, but Jessica notices that Mr. Terupt has no friends or family members there. She begins piecing together other hints of Mr. Terupt’s lack of family: No family pictures on his desk, no ring on his finger, no gifts left from friends or family in his hospital room. Jessica overhears another teacher, Ms. Newberry, confiding to Mrs. Williams that she has tried to get close to Mr. Terupt and that she cares about him, but Mr. Terupt has resisted building a relationship.

The students each grapple with their anxieties over Mr. Terupt’s surgery as they wait. Jeffrey breaks the tension by placing the microphone from their class meetings in the middle of a table in the waiting room. Danielle picks up the mic, and the students take turns sharing stories about Mr. Terupt until a doctor walks by. The students anxiously watch as the doctor approaches another person in the waiting room and shares what appears to be bad news. Jeffrey becomes increasingly emotional as he has flashbacks of waiting in the hospital for Michael only to be told, “I’m so sorry” by Michael’s doctor (223).