In the waiting room, Bravael is pacing, impatient to end this story once and for all because he has much more exciting plans than being lectured by the principal. But what annoys him more is that he is the first to be there among all those summoned to the Oval Office.
"Maybe I overdid it by driving so fast," he mumbles, but that doesn't explain why they aren't there yet, he complains, sulking a bit. "And why does the meeting have to be at precisely the first hour in the morning?" He rechecks his watch time, again and again, making bad blood for nothing each time he looks at it. He is just excited and anxious about his meeting with Bravael at the same time.
The twins, who so far have never argued, find themselves in the most significant impasse of their lives.