Ordinary People: Chapter 18 Summary & Analysis

It's the first day of exam week for Conrad. In the first moments of his English exam, Conrad notices a handful of details as he glances around the classroom: his peers hard at work, the blue shadows of trees on the snow outside, his teacher passing through the aisles of the classroom. The last is the hardest for him to deal with. He finds it difficult to write essays about free will and fate when he's ogling his teacher lustfully as she wanders around the room.

After the exam, Conrad and Jeannine spot one another in the hallway. He is unsure how to approach her; he hasn't spoken to her since Christmas vacation began, and worries that he'll make a misstep. She passes as he rummages through his locker, then after composing himself he runs to catch up with her outside the school. Playing down his nervousness, he coolly offers her a ride home, which she accepts.

Conrad and Jeannine listen to the radio in silence during the ride. They eventually reach her house, and with a twinge of embarrassment Jeannine says that she can't invite Conrad inside, beginning to explain something about her mother. However, she quickly interrupts herself to apologize for calling Conrad "lucky" to be an only child during their last conversation. Conrad is also embarrassed; Jeannine suggests that she also knows about his suicide, which makes him regret his failure to let her know before she learned about it from anywhere else. The two part awkwardly, and on the way home Conrad tries to convince himself that there is nothing to be ashamed of.

Several neighborhood women have gathered at the Jarretts' for their bridge club meeting. Conrad slips into the house trying to avoid the group, but Carole Lazenby greets him warmly and introduces him to the rest of the women. Beth sits by but is mostly quiet. As he moves toward his room, Mrs. Lazenby urges Conrad to stop by her house for a visit; she's noticed how little time she and her son have spent together recently. Conrad makes a half-hearted promise and hurries upstairs.

Alone, Conrad considers Mrs. Lazenby's offer. He eventually concludes that too many distractions have come between him and Lazenby, and that a visit wouldn't be worth the trouble. He does, however, decide to call Jeannine on the spur of the moment – but not before calling Karen, whose number he spots on a notepad near the phone. Her mother picks up the phone, but is extremely wary of Conrad and speaks to him harshly. For a moment he scolds himself, feeling that someone so obsessed with women deserves to be treated poorly. After a while, though, he snaps out of his funk and decides to call Jeannine. He asks her out on a date – and to his surprise and relief, she accepts.