The day before the gala, Charlotte walks home with Maya and Lina. Maya says that Savanna was nice before she met Ximena, and that Ximena’s “the bad influence” (265). She’s upset that Ximena will give a speech at graduation, since she has the best grades. Maya has written a note telling Ellie that she needs to “snap out of it” (267) and stop being friends with Ximena. When they pass a restaurant and see the Beecher Prep kids there, Maya wants to give the note to Ellie and Charlotte unsuccessfully tries to pull her away. As she watches Maya go in, she feels bad that Maya “doesn’t have a clue how to read the social stuff” (269). To Maya, “kids are either nice or evil” (269) so she doesn’t know how to handle more complex social situations.

As Maya leaves the note with Ellie, she seems relieved. Charlotte can tell that the popular group is gawking at her, but Maya “was beyond their being able to hurt her” (271). Charlotte just wants to stay neutral in the whole conflict.