Issy

Issy is a student in Ria’s class, where her confident, self-deprecating manner makes her both an expressive performer and an easy companion for Gideon. Their playful exchanges suggest a flirtation, but the account ultimately defines her significance through a distinction Gideon recognizes: being attracted to someone and having an opportunity for intimacy do not mean he wants to pursue it.

Identity and Presence in Class

During a writing exercise, students use pictures as prompts. Gideon chooses an image of a trampoline and writes about a girl lying beneath one, feeling the adrenaline as her friend jumps above her. Issy reads the poem aloud; Gideon considers her performance very good. He notes her pixie cut and exceptionally long eyelashes, and describes her as equally confident and self-deprecating.

Gideon also misses being able to chat with Issy while he has no internet. He remembers their exchanges as silly conversations and memes, but their triviality does not make him miss them less. The detail presents their connection as an ordinary, ongoing companionship rather than only a possibility of romance.

Playfulness and Possible Attraction

After reading, Issy asks Gideon if her performance was okay. When she says she thinks she did badly, he agrees sarcastically and calls her terrible; she tells him to stop, whacks him on the shoulder, and turns away. Norma and Andy notice the exchange, and Andy silently signals that Gideon has a chance with her. Norma later tells him that Issy was flirting. Gideon brushes off the comment, so the scene leaves the flirtation visible to others without establishing what Issy intends by it.

At a later gathering, Gideon admits that, among the girls present, he would choose Issy if he had to be intimate with someone. She does not flee at the admission; instead, she says that she would marry him. When she calls him a great husband, Gideon responds by awkwardly patting her leg. The joke and his clumsy gesture keep the moment light, while showing how uncertain he is about responding to intimacy.

Gideon’s Recognition and the Limits of the Connection

Gideon later discusses his failed romantic approaches with Robbie, including his tendency to overthink and his belief that he is failing as a man. Reflecting on Issy, he acknowledges that he finds her attractive and that she might have kissed him back if he had not made an awkward, split-second arm hug instead. Yet he also recognizes that he did not want to make out with her. The realization brings him considerable relief and leaves him feeling lighter; he and Robbie then laugh about the failed move.

This change clarifies the limits of what the earlier teasing and marriage joke can establish. Issy is presented as receptive to banter and unafraid of Gideon’s candid remark, but her private feelings are not explained. The decisive change belongs to Gideon: he stops treating a plausible opportunity as an obligation to desire, and his relief becomes more telling than the flirtation itself.