# Reverse-Outline / Structural Audit - Draft 0

id: reverse_outline | owner: codex | tier: book
date: 2026-07-05
target: `output/drafts/checkpoints/draft0_20260705.md`

## Per-Chapter Reverse Outline

Ch 01 - June moves from planned exit to committed fake-pair participation: she refuses Theo's clean exit and writes `June Park` on the class list. Evidence: "Don't fix it" and "wrote *June Park* in the left-hand blank."  
  link to Ch 02: THEREFORE - once June signs, Theo/Odile must turn a public mistake into paperwork.

Ch 02 - The lie becomes institutional: packet, receipt, nontransferable PARK / BRENNAN slot, and Odile's shifting pair/couple/partner language. Evidence: "A FINAL CLASS FOR EIGHT COUPLES" becomes crossed-out "pairs" and "partners."  
  link to Ch 03: THEREFORE - paperwork produces the first class and public pair handling.

Ch 03 - June survives making bad marks in public and the cohort accepts June/Theo as a unit. Evidence: `"That's us," June said, and the us went out of her mouth into the room`.  
  link to Ch 04: THEREFORE - cohort acceptance forces a social afterclass scene where the origin story must be made repeatable.

Ch 04 - The edited origin story becomes socially portable while Ruth's suspicion shifts the issue from romance to unequal terms. Evidence: Ruth asks whether "June's slot was comped" and Theo over-explains the nontransferable slot.  
  link to Ch 05: THEREFORE - the social lie now has enough charge that Week 2 looking can become private attention.

Ch 05 - June's looking becomes memorized material; she realizes she can reproduce Theo next week from memory. Evidence: "she could probably produce that lean again next week from memory."  
  link to Ch 06: BUT - before the next class can cash that intimacy, the off-Tuesday cohort/gallery walk exposes the clean-exit problem.

Ch 06 - Ruth turns suspicion into an ethical pressure: if June needs out, no clean channel exists that does not route through Theo/Odile. Evidence: the chapter's live problem is who June can tell "if the class stops being good for her."  
  link to Ch 07: THEREFORE - the next class makes that ethical pressure worse by producing private attention as public evidence.

Ch 07 - Week 3 pays the memory-pressure turn: June writes Theo's full name without checking, while Theo hides his memory study of June. Evidence: "wrote THEO BRENNAN... no glance at the door"; Theo keeps his panel off-rack.  
  link to Ch 08: THEREFORE - Theo must decide whether to destroy, show, or hide the off-rack study.

Ch 08 - Theo preserves the hidden study as a faced-to-wall consent problem, and the cohort extends Tuesday life beyond the class. Evidence: he hides the study "faced to the wall behind backing boards."  
  link to Ch 09: BUT - after the intimacy/custody thread deepens, June's non-Theo work life interrupts with material stay/leave alternatives. This is one of the book's quieter structural joins.

Ch 09 - June's outside art/work life becomes a real alternative structure: Nia/Tasker, Asha/Dana/Kessler, and the foamcore value run. Evidence: "Philadelphia had a set of keys on Tasker Street. Neither one was nothing."  
  link to Ch 10: THEREFORE - the offer and work-world pressure make Week 4's "what they love" assignment test whether making/art remains live.

Ch 10 - Theo's useful-hands wound becomes visible: he cannot name a loved action except maintenance, and June paints that truth. Evidence: `"I don't know," he said... "it's all maintenance."`  
  link to Ch 11: BUT - the book pivots from Theo's personal usefulness to the broader category/access costs in Ruth/Sam and Priya/Ben. Structurally valid but quieter than the central romance line.

Ch 11 - Forms, pickup authority, hospital access, and lease applications make public categories materially costly. Evidence: PARK / BRENNAN sits in the same cubby system as KIM / RIVERA and NAIR / ADLER; Priya/Ben face one-strong-application pressure.  
  link to Ch 12: THEREFORE - once categories are material, Odile's Week 5 prep card makes private memory custody harder to treat as just class play.

Ch 12 - June and Theo exchange paintable memories, making the fake partner category contain real private material. Evidence: Theo's memory leaves with June, and June's "memory sat in his block capitals."  
  link to Ch 13: THEREFORE - those memories must be painted, and the public outcome of the painting becomes the midpoint.

Ch 13 - Memory paintings make the intimacy public, June chooses a cover kiss that is also real, Odile announces the showcase/joint piece, and Nia formalizes the offer. Evidence: "Each pair will make one joint piece" and the PHL board text.  
  link to Ch 14: THEREFORE - Thursday pickup must process the flyer/photo, joint-piece label problem, and catalog route opened by the showcase.

Ch 14 - The post-kiss photo becomes flyer material, `After Class` gets size/label constraints, and Theo's care move arms the catalog reveal. Evidence: June asks about "The label. For the showcase"; Theo brings all nine gray-spined catalogs.  
  link to Ch 15: THEREFORE - the catalogs and formal offer both arrive in June's apartment, where label work and the exit/stay math can coexist.

Ch 15 - Tasker becomes a genuinely good, priced offer while Dana/Kessler remain worse but local; June still withholds the choice. Evidence: Tasker terms and Asha's "If you pass on Philly, send Nia my name."  
  link to Ch 16: THEREFORE - the private offer pressure enters Week 6 as hidden fear material without being disclosed to Theo.

Ch 16 - Fear canvases turn private wounds into public objects; Theo nearly confesses the aunt fact and fails. Evidence: the unsaid sentence is `Odile's my aunt`; June says, "You made it mine."  
  link to Ch 17: THEREFORE - the catalog route and fear pressure now trigger the acknowledgment-page rupture the same night.

Ch 17 - June discovers Theo is Odile's nephew, refuses repair tasks, returns one catalog, and orders the other eight returned by a non-Theo route. Evidence: `"Eileen Brennan is my mother. Odile's my aunt"` and "The other eight come back some way that isn't you."  
  link to Ch 18: THEREFORE - rupture produces absence labor: scarf return, catalog boxing, private leaving-side studies, and unresolved Tasker math.

Ch 18 - June turns absence into work rather than disappearance: five leaving-side studies, scarf returned, blue dish tether opened, Tasker/Kessler held. Evidence: `After Class` becomes "the room as one person left it."  
  link to Ch 19: THEREFORE - because June has said no chair and remains absent, Week 7 must show the empty side publicly.

Ch 19 - June's absence becomes a public object in `After Class`: one stool removed, two jars remain, stain crosses her side, and Odile says "From here." Evidence: the racked label `The room after class. June / Theo. Wk 7.`  
  link to Ch 20: THEREFORE - the cohort has seen the absence, so Ruth/Sam can offer care without advice while June makes the city decision.

Ch 20 - June declines Tasker before confession, recommends Asha, commits to Dana/Kessler, and uses Ruth/Sam for non-Theo catalog return. Evidence: "I said no at 10:52" and "The class is the part that works."  
  link to Ch 21: THEREFORE - the non-Theo catalog route lands at Marchetti Rooms and forces Theo/Odile's partial confrontation before Theo knows June's choice.

Ch 21 - Theo receives the returned catalogs, confronts Odile's partial manipulation, sets a no-more-route boundary, finishes the faced-to-wall study, and asks June for a meeting. Evidence: `8 rtn'd 12/4, via R. Kim / S. Rivera` and the labeled study faced to the wall.  
  link to Ch 22: THEREFORE - Theo's ask produces June's bounded `Sunday. 9. Just coffee.` repair scene.

Ch 22 - Private confession sets terms: Theo names the asymmetry, June states the self-owned stay, portrait visibility stays under June's control, and Tuesday 4:00 is set for `After Class`. Evidence: `"I'm staying, Theo. It isn't for you"` and "you do not touch my stain."  
  link to Ch 23: THEREFORE - Tuesday work session must finish the joint piece under those exact terms.

Ch 23 - June and Theo finish `After Class`, preserve the seam/underpaintings, pay Asha and Priya/Ben follow-through, and leave the portrait faced in. Evidence: `After Class. Two underpaintings of one room, finished together.`  
  link to Ch 24: THEREFORE - the finished artifact and incoming cohort force the coda: public partial reading, portrait choice, Odile proof.

Ch 24 - The showcase pays the artifact-borne disclosure, June privately views and re-faces the portrait, Odile proves night-one manipulation, and June leaves through first snow still carrying her own material pressure. Evidence: Ruth says "You didn't start this together"; Odile's page reads `Park, J. - Brennan, T. Last slot`; June says "It wasn't yours to run."

## Landmark Table

- opening disturbance: Ch 01 - strangers congratulate June and Theo for "The last spot. You two."
- first committed action: Ch 01 - June rejects the exit and writes her name: "wrote *June Park* in the left-hand blank."
- first irreversible complication: Ch 04 / Ch 05 - the edited story becomes socially repeatable, then the looking becomes memorized: "she could probably produce that lean again next week from memory."
- midpoint reframe or revelation: Ch 13 - the kiss is real, the showcase is assigned, and the PHL board offer arrives. Evidence: "Each pair will make one joint piece" plus Nia's board text.
- point where retreat becomes harder than action: Ch 16 / Ch 17 - public fear canvases plus nephew discovery make simple continuation impossible. Evidence: the ready sentence `Odile's my aunt`, then `"Odile's my aunt"` on the back stair.
- crisis decision: Ch 20 - June declines Tasker before confession. Evidence: "I said no at 10:52."
- climactic confrontation: Ch 22 - the private booth confession/terms scene, not the showcase. Evidence: `"I'm staying, Theo. It isn't for you"` and the portrait terms.
- post-climax settlement: Ch 23-Ch24 - `After Class` finished/displayed/stored, portrait consent paid, Odile proof taken, first snow. Evidence: `Two underpaintings...`, `Park, J. - Brennan, T. Last slot`, and "I'm not carrying anything."

## Reverse Logic Test

Ending paragraph: June leaves the final showcase with the public truth only partially visible, Odile's opening-night proof in her coat pocket, Theo restrained to the corner, `After Class` stored under both names, and her own unpaid New York life still ahead. The ending requires the fake public category to become real enough to matter, June's stay decision to be independent of Theo, Theo's repair to be restraint rather than rescue, and Odile's manipulation to be rereadable but not absolved.

- PREPARED - fake category becomes public/social before it becomes real: Ch 03 `"That's us"` and Ch 04's accepted edited origin story.
- PREPARED - Odile's rule manipulation predates the class: Ch 02 couples/pairs/partners amendments and nontransferable PARK / BRENNAN packet.
- PREPARED - June stays for herself, not Theo: Ch 09 "Neither one was nothing"; Ch 20 Tasker refusal; Ch 22 `"I'm staying, Theo. It isn't for you."`
- PREPARED - Theo's repair must become restraint: Ch 10 `"it's all maintenance"`; Ch 21 no-more-route boundary; Ch 24 `"I'm not carrying anything."`
- PREPARED - final artifact can carry disclosure without speech: Ch 12 memory exchange, Ch 13 joint-piece assignment, Ch 19 empty side, Ch 23 final label.
- PREPARED - portrait consent: Ch 08 faced-to-wall hiding; Ch 21 finished study faced to wall; Ch 22 terms; Ch 24 June turns it herself.
- PREPARED - first snow as literal ending, not emotional weather: the reading guide locks it; Ch 24 keeps it after the showcase and under cold/material pressure rather than at confession.

No concealed late twist found. The weakest preparation is the exact opening-night paper proof, which is mechanically new in Ch24, but the broader fact it proves is prepared by Ch01-Ch02 Odile behavior and Ch21's partial confession.

## Divergence Against Architecture

The user-directed compression to 24 chapters concentrates the planned coda and some aftermath. The manuscript preserves the binding shape: eight Tuesdays, private confession before showcase, no public grand gesture, artifact-borne disclosure, no public nephew reveal, Odile knew from night one, and June's self-owned New York decision. The main structural divergence is length/proportion, not causal ordering.

## Verdict

SPINE-INTACT.

No AND-THEN links, no NO-CHANGE chapters, no missing landmarks, and no concealed major turn. The three weakest THEREFORE/BUT links are:

1. Ch 08 -> Ch 09: valid thematic/material interruption, but the external work/offer thread arrives more by contrast than immediate causality. Revision option if expansion is ordered: add a short Ch08 closing pressure toward June's rent/work calendar, or a Ch09 opening callback to the hidden-study question.
2. Ch 10 -> Ch 11: both are category/usefulness chapters, but the transition from Theo's hands to frame-shop forms is quiet. Revision option if expansion is ordered: seed the frame pickup or Ruth/Sam access problem one chapter earlier.
3. Ch 15 -> Ch 16: Tasker pressure is strong in June but hidden from Theo; Week 6 fear assignment can feel like a separate class step until the fear canvases catch up. Revision option if expansion is ordered: thread one more private offer-object into Ch16 before the canvases turn.

Revision orders: none blocking for structure. Queue the three weak joins as expansion candidates, not mandatory surgery, pending Claude cold read and macro diagnostics.
