Monday and Claudia walked home from school together. Monday wore a jacket Claudia lent her because she didn’t have her own. Claudia was nervous about reading in front of her church. Monday said she could pretend to be sick. (Monday lied for self-preservation, with “matter-of-fact precision” unlike Claudia, who still can’t pull off a lie.) When Claudia said Ma would be mad, Monday was dismissive.

When a group of boys entered the Chinese restaurant they were in, Monday and Claudia communicated about them in the secret language they made up together in fifth grade. Claudia was afraid of the boys, but Monday was confident. Monday found one of the boys attractive, and they checked Monday out, too, arousing confusing feelings of jealousy in Claudia. One boy blocked their exit, and the rest of the boys surrounded the two girls for a moment before the girls could escape. Although the encounter scared them, Monday was exhilarated by the interaction with these older, high school-aged boys. “That year, the conversation about boys had turned from hypothetical dreams of rappers and movie stars to realities of neighbors and classmates” (33). 

They went to the library, where Ms. Paul kept an eye on Claudia after school every day on Ma’s behalf, to check in.