The first-person narrator and protagonist, Shayla Willows (“Shay”) is a studious and increasingly reflective seventh grader. She begins the novel as a rule-following, anxious, self-conscious student and ends as a non-conforming, brave, expressive activist. Because she likes having a sense of control, she refuses to play the Command game out of fear of losing that control and risking trouble. Shayla is Black, and her two best friends are Japanese American and Puerto Rican American, so they refer to themselves as the “United Nations.” At first, she believes “race doesn’t even matter” (48), but her perspective changes as she witnesses the acquittal of the clearly guilty police officer and when Principal Trask targets Black students for disciplinary action.

Shayla’s character arc is, on one level, a movement from superficiality towards authenticity. She spends the rising action of the novel crushing on the handsome Jace Hayward, even though he made fun of her forehead (a physical feature of which she’s acutely aware, along with her unflattering PE clothes). She ignores his unkind personality, focusing on the social status she could gain with such an attractive boyfriend. Her obsession with appearance carries over to her relationship with one of her best friends, Isabella Alvarez.