60 pages • 2 hours read
Finding Cinderella
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Chapters 5-7Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 5 Summary
Content Warning: This section of the guide includes discussion of cursing.
A month later, Six and Daniel are in his parents’ kitchen. She whispers to him that she does not think his family likes her. Daniel assures her that they do. Daniel’s father enters the kitchen and exclaims that they cannot stand Six, but then he says that he is joking and that they like Six a lot. Daniel groans about his father’s joke, but his father continues, stating that he is proud of Six for not having sex with Daniel yet.
Six, embarrassed, asks Daniel if he has told his family that they have not had sex yet. His father says that he knows only because Daniel comes home and takes a long shower each night after their dates. Daniel’s mother and sister arrive with pizza, and Daniel’s mother also references Daniel’s long showers, embarrassing Daniel and Six.
As they sit around the dinner table, Daniel tells his family that he hates them all and hates everyone but Six. Six states, “I hate everybody, too” (91). This phrase elicits a strong reaction in Daniel as he realizes that Six is Cinderella. No one except Six notices Daniel’s reaction, and she asks him if he is okay. Daniel asks if she wants to know why he has not yet given her a nickname: “Because I already gave you one, Cinderella” (92). Daniel watches, and the same realization is evident on Six’s face. She shakes her head, stating that it’s impossible. Daniel grabs her face and kisses her, not caring that his family is present.
Daniel kisses Six until she backs away from him. She sobs as she stands up and runs out of the house. Daniel chases after her, reaching her car before she can drive away. He asks her to stop and talk to him. He tries to assure her that she should not be embarrassed by their previous interaction, and this only makes Six cry harder. She states that this was a “huge mistake” before driving away (94), leaving Daniel behind.
Chapter 6 Summary
Daniel goes inside, and his parents apologize, thinking that they did something to upset Six. Daniel cannot reassure them because he does not understand why Six was so upset. He takes off after Six, driving to her house and going right to her bedroom window.
He pushes aside the curtain and tells her that he will not come in but asks her to meet him at the park in front of his house. Six begs him to go home, but he becomes angry, telling her that she owes him an explanation. Six cries harder. He apologizes for his tone but insists that she meet him there within the next half hour or their relationship is done. He nearly makes it to his car before turning around and running back to the window, apologizing and saying that he just wants to figure things out. Six does not respond, so Daniel leaves and drives to the park.
Twenty-seven minutes pass until Daniel sees Six’s car pull into the lot. Six slowly makes her way to Daniel, taking the swing next to him but refusing to make eye contact or speak. Daniel begins speaking, telling her that after their encounter in the closet last year, he wondered whether he should have tried harder to find her or if Six wanted him to come find her at all. He tells her that he waited for her to come back every day until the end of the semester and that the last day of school was devastating for him since he realized that she would not be returning. He admits that he began dating Val because it made it easier to move past the fact that he longed for Cinderella. He tells her that their day in the closet together was one of the best of his life—the closest he has ever felt to loving someone until he met Six officially. Six meets his eyes, her cheeks stained with tears, and reveals that she got pregnant after their encounter in the closet.
Chapter 7 Summary
Still in shock, Daniel rests his head on her lap, wondering if this is real. He feels one of her tears hit him on the cheek as she explains that she did not find out about the pregnancy until she was in Italy. She apologizes profusely and explains that she did not know what to do, but she knew that she could not raise him by herself. She alludes to putting the baby up for adoption. Daniel lifts his head at the word “him,” realizing that their baby was a boy. He asks Six if she gave birth to their baby, and she sobs, telling him that she did not know who Daniel was at the time or how to find him but that if she had known, she would not have made that decision without him.
Daniel asks her how she could not have tried harder to find out who he was, accusing her of caring more about her reputation than figuring out who the father was. Six slaps him across the face and begins crying harder. She runs back to her car and drives off.
Daniel watches her go before texting Holder to see where he is. Daniel goes to his house, surprised at how angry he feels but unable to figure out what revelation is upsetting him the most. He feels angry with Six for making the decision without him and angry at himself for putting her in that position in the first place. He feels angry that he was not there to help her during the pregnancy and sad because he is so angry at Six. He punches the steering wheel of his car repeatedly and then gets out, crying and kicking the tire. He repeats to himself, “It’s not her fault” (103). Holder comes outside, sitting silently next to Daniel and asking if he wants to talk about it. When Daniel says no, he suggests that they go to Breckin’s house to play video games to let out some aggression. Daniel agrees, making Holder promise not to tell Breckin that he cried.
Chapters 5-7 Analysis
These chapters reveal Six’s pregnancy, which will challenge Daniel and Six’s relationship and force them to confront uncomfortable truths; their responses will determine whether they can weather storms together or will fall apart. Daniel realizes that Six is Cinderella after she repeats a phrase that first bonded them together in the maintenance closet, and “[a]s soon as the words fall from her mouth, she looks away like she didn’t just punch [Daniel] in the gut, rip out [his] intestines, and stomp them into the ground” (91). The realization that Six is Cinderella has an almost physical impact on Daniel, and the scene alludes to the “glass slipper” moment in the fairy tale “Cinderella.” This fairy tale callback enhances the romantic structure of the novella, but Hoover subverts the traditional fantasy by emphasizing that love built on fantasy must still contend with real-world consequences.
Daniel and Six’s disparate reactions to the news usurp the fairy-tale moment. While Daniel is overjoyed, Six seems horrified and runs away. Six running away from the news indicates her struggles with being honest and vulnerable during this moment. The theme of Honesty and Vulnerability in Building Connections develops through Six’s initial inability to be honest about her reaction, straining their connection. Her unwillingness to discuss the traumatic circumstances she faced leads to confusion and hurts Daniel: “We don’t do this kind of thing. You don’t play these games. You owe me a fucking explanation” (97). Daniel quickly grows frustrated with her, as he is confused about why she seems so distraught about the news, calling their relationship “a mistake.” Their relationship has grown organically and quickly ever since they met as Daniel and Six versus Daniel and Cinderella; when Six pulls away from him following his realization that she is Cinderella, he is left in shock at the break in her communication style.
The author uses these revelations to challenge readers’ notions of The Role Serendipity Plays in Love, usurping expectations that serendipity always follows a turmoil-free and happy path. The author illustrates this when Six notices Daniel’s energy after he realizes that she is Cinderella: “No one else can tell something major is going on with me right now, but she notices. She notices because we’re in sync. She notices because we have this unspoken connection” (92). The argument that follows this scene illustrates that their fortuitous relationship and unspoken connection do not exempt Daniel and Six from having to navigate the challenges of relationships and love. This moment shows how the resurfacing of past trauma can block someone’s ability to be emotionally present, revealing that vulnerability is often a process rather than a choice made in a single moment.
The second revelation, that Daniel and Six conceived a child during their tryst in the maintenance closet, tests their understanding of The Meaning of Unconditional Love and honesty and vulnerability in building connections. When Six admits that she was hesitant to advertise the fact that she had a child and did not know how to identify the father of her child, Daniel lashes out at her: “You get pregnant with my kid, and you worry about your reputation? Are you kidding me?” (101). Daniel’s anger gets the best of him, and while he instantly regrets his harsh and accusatory words, it further strains his connection with Six, as she slaps him before running away, sobbing. Daniel wields the accusation of Six worrying about her “reputation,” knowing that her reputation is a source of anxiety for her because of her “promiscuous” past.
Daniel uses a vulnerability that Six has shared in the past against her in this moment, calling into question how unconditional Daniel’s feelings for Six are now that this new challenge emerges. This moment feels like a rupture in Daniel’s character: Someone who previously prided himself on loving Six for who she is now lashes out at her for something deeply painful and rooted in her past. While his reaction reflects the gravity of learning that he unknowingly fathered and lost a child, it also reveals a failure to recognize all that Six has endured. She not only carried and birthed a baby alone in Italy but has also lived with the grief of putting the baby up for adoption ever since. Her honesty in confessing the pregnancy is brave, and her immediate emotional collapse upon discovering Daniel’s identity reflects a layered grief—not shame but the sudden confrontation of past trauma crashing into present love. Daniel’s failure to meet this honesty with grace undermines the connection they have worked to build. This moment not only challenges Daniel’s ability to love unconditionally but also prompts readers to question how love can survive when one person weaponizes the other’s deepest insecurities. These scenes also illustrate the challenges inherent in being honest and vulnerable: When the truth comes out, it can knock a relationship off its axis. This section of chapters ends on an ambiguous note, with the future of Daniel and Six’s relationship hanging in the balance.
These chapters mark a clear pivot in the novella from romantic idealism to emotional realism. What began as a whimsical, anonymous tryst now collides with the weight of real-life consequences—pregnancy, shame, anger, and blame. Hoover uses these tensions to explore how characters who once thrived on fantasy must now reckon with one another’s full humanity. The fragility of their bond in the face of truth reinforces the novella’s broader argument—that love only becomes lasting when vulnerability is met with compassion and when serendipity is matched by choice.
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