one hundred twenty-seven days before
- Miles interrogates the Colonel about Alaska as they spend time in their room. According to the Colonel, Alaska is: from a small town; dating a guy at Vanderbilt; and hasn't cheated on her boyfriend.
- The Eagle brings by Miles's class schedule and gives him "the Look of Doom" (127before.3).
- The Colonel enthuses about lunch and asks Miles if he's coming, clearly countermanding the initial statement that he won't be Miles's entry into social life at Culver Creek. Over bufriedos (fried bean burritos) at lunch, Miles meets Takumi.
- The lunch discussion centers around why Alaska's ex-roommate Marya and her boyfriend Paul got kicked out: they were naked in bed together, drunk, and smoking marijuana (all expellable offenses). Rumors have it someone snitched, and Takumi intends to find out.
- In the middle of the night, Miles is grabbed from his bed and led across the soccer field to the lake. Three unknown persons duct-tape his arms to his torso and his legs together so Miles looks "like a silver mummy" (127before.19). Then they tape his mouth and throw him in the lake.
- Miles mermaid-paddles to the shore, loosens his left hand, and rips the duct tape off. He marches to Alaska's room, uncertain of the welcome he'll get from the Colonel, who permitted the hazing to happen.
- Alaska laughs about his swim, so Miles marches back to his own room, annoyed beyond belief, to confront the Colonel.
- The Colonel is surprised to find Miles was taped; he recognizes the danger that Miles could have died and promises to get the hazers back.
- Furious about the prank, Miles mentions going to the Eagle, but the Colonel refuses—remember, no snitching. Oh, and the Colonel explains Alaska's meanness as moodiness.