Hazel reads The Price of Dawn until late in the evening. The next morning, she is woken up by her mother, who jubilantly announces to her that it is her thirty-third “half-birthday” (Green 17). To Hazel, the attempts of her mother to imbue all possible holidays with meaning is just a side-effect of her cancer. She, however, ignores this feeling and humors her. Hazel also contacts Kaitlyn, her old high school friend. During this day, all that Hazel wants is to stay at home and watch her shows on television. However, her mother convinces her to meet up with Kaitlyn, whom they decide to meet at the mall.

While at the mall, Kaitlyn tells Hazel all the gossip, but Hazel is struggling to find new news that is not cancer-related. She decides to excuse herself early, and instead of contacting her mother to pick her from the mall, she chooses to sit alone and read. While sitting there, she is approached by a young girl named Jackie, who inquires about the tube she has in her nose. Hazel explains to the young girl that the tube is called a cannula, and it connects to the oxygen tank she carries, where its purpose is to help her breathe. She also allows Jackie to try the tube on before her mother approaches and apologetically takes Jackie away (Green 18-19). Following this, Hazel begins reflecting on the young girl’s innocence, contrasting the normalcy she saw in her in the short interaction they had with her strained interaction with Kaitlyn.