Ungifted

On the bus for his first day at ASD, Donovan sees a student throw a paper airplane at the bus driver, who then pulls over to discuss the “[i]nteresting experiment” (31). Donovan notes that throwing a paper airplane on his old bus would have been called “Mutiny” or “armed insurrection” (31). ASD’s building is modern and “covered in solar panels” that make it look like “a jewel-encrusted palace” on sunny days (31). The principal, Mr. Del Rio, greets students at the door to shake their hands. Donovan feels determined to succeed with “hard work, a little bit of luck, and lot of good acting” (32). However, he struggles in calculus and attempts to copy first from Noah, who Donovan discovers does the problems incorrectly on purpose, then Abigail, who sees Donovan looking at her paper and complains to the teacher. Donovan is surprised when instead of getting into trouble, Mr. Osborne takes him for a walk and tells him few people are good at everything. He encourages Donovan to use this “period of discovery” to “explore where your true gifts lie” (35).

Outside of school, Donovan meets the Daniels at Hardcastle Mall, which looks “a little drab” compared to ASD’s “newer, nicer, and cleaner” facilities (35). Even the school’s cafeteria food is superior to the mall’s food court. “Technically,” Donovan is banned from the mall for six months for having swum in the fountain on a hot day, but “the security guard who had busted” him isn’t working (36). The Daniels, who want to attract the attention of two girls, Heather and Deirdre, urge Donovan to “jump in the fountain again,” but he refuses (36). Heather asks where he has been, and the Daniels tell her Donovan goes to the gifted school, almost revealing how he ended up there.

Donovan spots Chloe, who is shopping with her mother. She comes over to greet Donovan and sympathizes with him about math class, explaining that Abigail is under a lot of pressure. When Deirdre muses that she did not think gifted kids had problems, Daniel Nussbaum theorizes their “big brains” make them “top-heavy, out of balance. Like that Atlas statue” (38). The girls discuss the statue’s destruction, causing Donovan to suggest it was an accident. After the girls depart, the Daniels tease Donovan about attending the gifted school then advise him “it’s not safe to come back to Hardcastle yet” (39), as Dr. Shultz has attended a school assembly in search of Donovan. 

The chapter’s narrator, Mr. Osborne, wonders how Donovan got through ASD’s rigorous selection process, which includes faculty interviews and a psychological exam. At a faculty meeting, Donovan’s teachers compare notes and realize that he does not seem to excel at anything. Mr. Osborne offers that Donovan has “humanized” the robotics program by doing something the top students never thought to do: name the robot (40). One teacher suggests Donovan may have “social intelligence,” but another teacher, Ms. Bevelaqua, counters “there’s nothing special about him in that way,” even if he seems like “a smooth operator compared to” the rest of the students (41). She wonders if the selection system broke down somehow, but Mr. Del Rio adamantly insists that is impossible and instructs the teachers to find Donovan’s strengths.

After the meeting, Mr. Del Rio informs Mr. Osborne that students are required to take Human Growth and Development. Since none of Mr. Osborne’s students have taken it, they will have to make it up in summer school. Mr. Osborne says having to give up their academic pursuits to take “sex education” will distress them (43). Mr. Del Rio tells him not to say anything to the students until the administration has “explored every option” (43).

Mr. Osborne hopes one of Donovan’s other teachers will find his as-yet-untapped gift, then resolves to observe for himself. Hearing laughter in the lab, Mr. Osborne is shocked to see Noah convulsing with laughter at a YouTube video Donovan has introduced him to. Noah quickly calculates how many hours of video exist on the site and how many years it would take to watch them all then wants to film a YouTube video. Mr. Osborne suggests filming the robot. Abigail objects on the grounds that it will give their robotics competition an edge, but the class overrules her. They struggle to maneuver Tin Man using the joystick that controls him, so Donovan shows them how, drawing on his video game skills. Though intrigued at how this will help them in the competition, Mr. Osborne acknowledges that Donovan’s skill with a joystick does not represent a gifted ability. He notices that Chloe has a crush on what Donovan represents: “normal middle school life” (45). He also notices that Donovan seems so “anxious to put the past behind him” that he ignores “the obvious signs” that he does not fit in at ASD (45). He wonders, “What was Donovan Curtis doing in the gifted program?” (47).