61 pages • 2 hours read
Elle KennedyThe Deal
Fiction | Novel | YA | Published in 2015A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Chapters 9-16Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 9 Summary: “Garrett”
Content Warning: This section of the guide includes discussion of sexual content, rape, and emotional abuse.
Garrett’s hockey team is leading 2-0 at half-time against St. Anthony. As they return to the ice after the break, Garrett notices his father, Phil, sitting in the bleachers. Although others view Phil as a proud parent who is actively supporting his son, Garrett knows that his father “doesn’t come to the games to watch his son play. He comes to watch an extension of himself play” (74). The sight of Phil therefore fills Garrett with anxiety, and he tries to block out his father’s presence entirely.
In the second half, the team scores another goal, securing a 3-0 victory. Back in the locker room, Logan asks Garrett about Hannah and admits that he is interested in her. Garrett feels an odd sense of discomfort at the thought of Hannah and Logan beginning a relationship. He rationalizes his emotions by telling himself that Logan’s reputation as a player makes him unsuitable for Hannah, who deserves better. Internally, Garrett acknowledges that he might have feelings for Hannah himself, but he doesn’t voice them.
After the game, Garrett’s father waits for him in the parking lot. Logan and another teammate, Birdie, urge Garrett to say hello; they are clearly in awe of the hockey legend. Garrett, however, avoids approaching him, and Phil offers Garrett only a curt nod before climbing into his SUV and leaving. Garrett boards the bus with his teammates, grateful to leave his father behind in the parking lot.
Chapter 10 Summary: “Hannah”
On Sunday, Hannah has her weekly phone call with her mother. She misses her parents, who still live in Ransom, Indiana, though she never visits them. After her high school graduation, Hannah only returned to Ransom once, but the visit was disastrous; her father ended up in jail for assault, and her family remains ostracized by the Ransom community. As a result, they all agreed that Hannah wouldn’t return. Instead, her parents meet her aunt and uncle in Philadelphia for Thanksgiving and Christmas whenever they can afford to travel.
During the call, Hannah’s mother shares the bad news that they cannot afford to fly to Philadelphia for Thanksgiving this year. Hannah, who is unable to help them financially, considers visiting them in Ransom, but the idea fills her with dread and panic. Her mother advises her to stay in Massachusetts, where she feels safer. Hannah blames herself for her parents’ isolation in Ransom and wishes that she could help them escape. Hannah tells her mother about the upcoming showcase scholarship, explaining that if she wins, it will cover her residence and meal fees for the next year, easing her family’s financial burden. Though she has a full scholarship at Briar, it only covers her tuition, not her living expenses. When her mother asks about Hannah’s current romantic interests, Hannah vaguely mentions that she likes someone but doesn’t reveal that she is talking about Justin. Her mother encourages her to ask him out, but Hannah remains hesitant.
After the call, Allie invites Hannah to breakfast. On their way to the dining hall, Hannah mentions her tutoring session, while Allie shares that she has restarted her relationship with Sean, her on-again, off-again boyfriend. Allie comments on the great sex that she and Sean have, prompting Hannah to reflect on her own complicated experience with sex. Hannah’s sex life has been marked by fear, anger, and therapy ever since a man raped her. She has attempted to have sex with two men since then. The first attempt lacked passion, which she attributed to a lack of chemistry. However, with her ex-boyfriend Devon—whom she dated for eight months and was deeply attracted to—she still couldn’t achieve an orgasm despite his efforts. This difficulty created strain in their relationship, and Devon ultimately broke up with her.
Chapter 11 Summary: “Garrett”
Hannah arrives at Garrett’s place for their next tutoring session and notices a large bruise from his recent hockey game. She asks if he plays hockey because he loves it or because his father pushed him into it. Garrett is surprised by her perceptiveness; no one has ever asked him this before. While he acknowledges his father’s influence, he admits that he plays because he genuinely loves the sport.
They spend the next hour studying before Garrett invites her to stay longer. Though initially hesitant, Hannah agrees when he offers to order pizza. As they eat, they share playful banter. The conversation shifts to Justin, and when Garrett asks what she sees in him, Hannah lists traits like seriousness, intelligence, and fidelity, believing Justin to be different from most men on campus. Garrett, however, remains skeptical, insisting that Justin isn’t as perfect as she thinks and that something about him is not quite right. Hannah defends her crush and then changes the topic to Garrett’s love life, and he admits that he avoids relationships because his focus is entirely on hockey.
They settle in to watch Breaking Bad and quickly become immersed in the show. Hours pass as they binge-watch an entire season and a half. As they exchange childhood stories and get to know each other better, Hannah admits that she won’t be able to see her parents for Thanksgiving due to financial constraints. Garrett reveals that he doesn’t celebrate the holidays with his family either—though for different reasons. By the end of the night, it is so late that Hannah decides to stay at Garrett’s place rather than heading back to her dorm.
Chapter 12 Summary: “Garrett/Hannah”
Garrett wakes up to find Hannah nestled against him, her head on his chest and their arms entwined. Though he is surprised, he enjoys the unexpected closeness and doesn’t want to wake her. When Hannah stirs, she is startled by their position and quickly pulls away, initiating a playful argument filled with teasing banter. She asks Garrett to drive her back to her dorm before his roommates notice her presence.
Back at her dorm, Hannah rushes to get ready and heads to her ethics class, encountering Justin in the hallway. They strike up a conversation, and Justin shares that he’s from Seattle and admits to looking for her at the fraternity party; he says that he heard she left with Garrett. Hannah clarifies that Garrett is just a friend who gave her a ride home. As Justin is about to ask her out, Garrett interrupts, bringing a coffee for Hannah and acting overly friendly, effectively killing the mood. Inside the classroom, Garrett surprises Hannah by sitting beside her instead of in his usual spot.
After class, Hannah wants to linger and talk to Justin, but Garrett insists on dragging her away and advises her to “play hard to get” in order to maintain Justin’s interest. He suggests that she wait until Beau Maxwell’s party to make her move. Before parting ways, Hannah cancels their planned tutoring session, citing exhaustion. Garrett seems disappointed but accepts with good grace. That evening, Hannah attends her showcase rehearsal, only to find the composer, MJ, present but Cass missing. Cass contacts her and claims to have a migraine, but Hannah knows that he is really hungover from a night of drinking. During rehearsal, Hannah brings up Cass’s suggestion to add a choir, but MJ is not enthused. When pressed, MJ admits that Cass recently asked her out, and Hannah suspects that this is a manipulative tactic to get MJ to comply with his vision for the piece. Despite Hannah’s concerns, MJ appears willing to yield to his demands for a choir, and by the end of rehearsal, it is clear that MJ will ignore her own artistic judgment and go along with his plan.
Chapter 13 Summary: “Garrett”
After another tutoring session with Hannah, Garrett finds himself frustrated and confused by the practice paper that she has assigned him. Despite her efforts to prepare him for his ethics midterm retake, he still struggles to grasp the material. Garrett’s roommates ask if he will be eligible to play in the upcoming game against Eastwood on Friday, and Garrett explains that the midterm grades won’t be entered into the system until Monday. This means that he will remain eligible to play in the game regardless of whether he passes the retake.
Chapter 14 Summary: “Hannah”
While working, Hannah gets a visit from Allie and Sean. Allie invites her to a movie night with the girls on their dorm floor, but it is scheduled for the same time as her tutoring session with Garrett. Wanting to attend the movie night, Hannah calls Garrett to reschedule their session from nine to seven o’clock. On the phone, Garrett seems distracted, and Hannah hears a party in the background, but he agrees to the new time.
The next night, Hannah arrives at Garrett’s house for their tutoring session at seven o’clock as planned. However, when she walks into his bedroom, she discovers him having sex with a blonde woman. Furious, Hannah storms out, and a half-dressed Garrett follows. She threatens to stop tutoring him if he doesn’t respect her schedule. Garrett reminds her of their deal involving the Saturday party, and he leaves Hannah with no choice but to reluctantly reschedule for the following day.
Chapter 15 Summary: “Garrett”
During their next tutoring session, Hannah is impressed with the quality of the paper that Garrett has written based on her prompt. She believes that he will do well on his midterm. She also notices that Garrett has put a lot of pressure on himself to do well on the exam so that he can remain eligible to play hockey. Garrett believes that this pressure is nothing compared to the pressure his father used to put on him to play hockey when he was a child. Hannah is sympathetic.
When Hannah asks, Garrett admits that he will become a coach or sportscaster if his professional hockey ambitions are unsuccessful. Hannah says that she will likely pursue songwriting or teaching if her dream of becoming a singer doesn’t pan out. Jokingly, she mentions becoming a stripper if all else fails. Garrett makes a playful, flirtatious comment about her body in response, which flusters Hannah. Garrett warns her that she can’t blush or seem uncomfortable when they’re pretending to be close at the party on Saturday, as Justin needs to believe their act. He teasingly suggests that he might even kiss her, which Hannah firmly rejects. Garrett, however, proposes practicing beforehand to make a public kiss look convincing. When Hannah refuses, he jokes that she must be a bad kisser. Irritated, Hannah agrees to prove him wrong.
Chapter 16 Summary: “Hannah”
Hannah impulsively kisses Garrett to prove that she is a good kisser. What starts as a playful challenge quickly escalates into an intense and heated moment that is interrupted when Garrett’s roommate Dean barges into the room. Hannah tries to explain the situation away by claiming that Garrett was helping her practice her make-out skills. Skeptical, Dean calls her bluff and suggests that she get a second opinion. Feeling unsettled and desperate to downplay the unexpected attraction she felt with Garrett, Hannah boldly strides up to Dean and kisses him. Though the kiss with Dean lacks the heat and passion of her earlier kiss with Garrett, she still manages to leave Dean visibly impressed and speechless. Eager to escape the situation, Hannah makes a hasty exit from the house.
Chapters 9-16 Analysis
Just as Hannah’s perspective has revealed glimpses of her traumatic past, Garrett’s perspective hints at the internal conflicts surrounding his dark history with his father, who attends Garrett’s hockey games but otherwise shows him little acknowledgement and no real affection. The stilted, wordless interaction between father and son also indicates that Garrett has a wealth of unresolved family issues to address. As Garrett states during his game in Chapter 9, “Phil Graham is nothing to me. He stopped being my father a long time ago. The problem is, my mantra isn’t foolproof. I can block him out, yes, and he’s not important to me, hell yes. But he is here. He’s always here, damn it” (74). Garrett’s intense focus on pursuing a professional hockey career means that he can never break free of his father’s shadow and looming presence. Thus, despite Garrett’s charismatic nature, he avoids emotional vulnerability and deeper, more meaningful connections. These dynamics hint at the lack of emotional fulfillment in his life. However, his interactions with Hannah indicate a potential shift in his outlook as he moves beyond surface-level relationships toward something more authentic.
In these chapters, The Importance of Reclaiming Confidence and Personal Power is explored in Garrett’s personal journey and his struggle to break free of his father’s influence. Phil serves as a significant source of frustration and anxiety, and Garrett’s discomfort at seeing his father at the game underscores the emotional distance between them. Specifically, Garrett’s reflections reveal Phil’s distinctly narcissistic tendences, as the Garrett is fully aware that his father views him as a “an extension of himself” rather than as a person in his own right (74). This unhealthy dynamic foreshadows the later revelation of Garrett’s fear that he might someday find himself mirroring his father’s abusive behavior.
As Hannah becomes closer to Graham and opens up about her struggles, more is revealed about her internal conflict with her past trauma. Justin’s brief interactions with Hannah during the frat party and in ethics class titillate her interest and add fuel to her existing crush, but this brief encounter also allows her to idealize Justin. By contrast, Garrett’s more persistent approach forces her to contend with a more realistic scenario, and she gradually begins to confront all of the hidden fears and feelings that she has been avoiding. As the novel unfolds, the interactions between Garrett and Hannah deepen, and their various tutoring sessions, text exchanges, and playful, flirty banter all point toward the growing emotional complexity of their relationship. What begins as an arrangement born of academic necessity therefore becomes something more meaningful as Garrett and Hannah challenge each other and help one another grow.
One of the most prominent themes in these chapters is the healing process, especially in the context of Hannah’s trauma. Her past, particularly the rape and its aftermath, continues to cast a long shadow over her current life, particularly in her interactions with men. When her friend Allie mentions her own healthy sex life, Hannah reflects, “I can’t help but wonder what that feels like. […] My sex life hasn’t exactly been sunshine and rainbows and sparkly tiaras. It’s been fear and anger and years of therapy” (83). Her previous failed relationship with Devon further illustrates Hannah’s struggles, as her trauma prevented her from engaging with him sexually despite their mutual attraction.
Because she is still trying to overcome the emotional and physical effects of her assault, Hannah also hesitates to address her growing feelings for Garrett, and it is clear that she must reconcile her internal conflict between desiring intimacy and feeling unsafe with a romantic partner. This hidden issue is notably illustrated when she impulsively kisses Garrett, as the charged moment forces her to confront her difficult feelings about physical closeness. Despite the emotional intensity of the kiss, she immediately deflects the situation by kissing Garrett’s roommate Dean in a desperate attempt to downplay her vulnerability and avoid admitting her attraction to Garrett. This act speaks to her internal struggle to reclaim some semblance of control over her sexuality, which has been dominated by fear and powerlessness since her experience with assault.
