Words on Bathroom Walls

Fiction | Novel | YA | Published in 2017

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Chapters 12-14Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Chapter 12 Summary

Halloween at St. Agatha’s is not a big deal. Only the younger kids are allowed to wear costumes, and most don’t. Maya tells a story about a kid who wore a giant rose costume and then called their mom crying because they were the only one in costume. Adam thinks the kid in the story is actually Maya and that telling it in the third-person helps her deal with the event. He doesn’t blame her because he likes to pretend “weird shit happens to other people, too” (90)

Adam makes a list of things that annoy him. It includes things like people dog-earing pages of his books and people who chew with their mouth full (like Ian). The last item on the list is “when people ask me how I feel today” (94).

Chapter 13 Summary

Maya has a bad day, and when Adam tries to talk to her about it, she runs off. Adam gets the idea to cook dinner for her family, and Rebecca shows her approval by twirling and doing cartwheels. While Maya’s family is excited, she is quiet all through the meal. Later, she asks Adam why he cooked for her, accusing him of feeling sorry for her situation. Adam replies, “I like making you happy” (98). Maya kisses him.

Later, Adam texts Maya to ask what she was upset about earlier that day. She explains that Ian’s family pays for her scholarship to St. Agatha’s, which means they get to audit her grades. Usually, the financial planner is the only one there, but today, Ian came to the meeting, took Maya’s file, and read information about her financial hardships aloud. Adam asks if there’s anything he can do, but Maya says she isn’t too upset about it anymore. Adam concludes that “Food fixes everything” (100).

Chapter 14 Summary

For the first time in his life, Adam makes his hallucinations disappear. The gangsters appear at school one day, and Adam stares down one “until he didn’t seem real anymore” (102). The rest vanish, and Adam feels in control for once.

At lunch one day, Dwight asks whether Maya and Adam are a couple now. Maya answers with a definite “yes,” which makes Adam feel good. More than just liking her because she’s pretty, Adam wants to be near her because “she’s the thing that keeps me sane” (104).

Before their first Academic Team meet, Dwight gets a nosebleed, so Adam takes his place. During the meet, voices in Adam’s head shout out answers to the questions, and he leads their team to victory. When the match is over, the voices continue until Adam’s mom shoots him a worried look from the audience. The voices disappear as suddenly as they came.

Chapters 12-14 Analysis

Walton has shown Adam acting like a “normal” teenager through positive experiences, such as making friends and getting used to a new school. Chapter 13 shows another “normal” side to Adam: He is oblivious when his crush returns his feelings, attributing Maya feeling ok about Ian’s obnoxious behavior to food rather than the kiss she gave Adam.

These chapters feature a high point of Adam’s experience on ToZaPrex: He makes one of his hallucinations vanish. He is doing so well with the medication that he feels like the schizophrenia doesn’t have a hold on him anymore. Walton emphasizes this moment to make it all the more poignant when things go downhill once Adam starts developing immunity to ToZaPrex.

Whereas earlier, Adam refused to blame his disease on a person, he is now willing to attribute the illness’s remission to Maya’s influence. The thought is sweet, but also dangerous—just as it would not be helpful for Adam to assume his father is responsible for his schizophrenia, so he cannot task Maya with his own wellness. It’s not fair to her, and would put him in a bad position if they were to break up. At the same time, Adam’s willingness to admit that another person’s intervention might help him foreshadows his eventual realization that therapy has a positive effect on him.

In Chapter 14, we see another instance of Adam’s hallucinations being helpful as imagined voices tell Adam correct answers to the Academic Team meet questions to which Adam doesn’t consciously know the answers. This poses yet another question about schizophrenia and the brain. Adam may have stored the correct information in his subconscious or unconscious mind, and schizophrenia may give him access to those parts of the brain through the voices.