Summary

Chapter 1 opens when Mercedes Suarez, known as Merci, is in the early part of her first day in sixth grade at Seaward Pines Academy. She considers their first health book topic on maturing to be “gross.” The students leave class early to have their pictures made. Seaward Pines Academy is a private school. Merci attends there on a scholarship. To help pay for books, she and her brother Roli helped their father do some painting over the summer. Merci notes that she does not tell anyone about paintin, partly because her mother says it is private and partly because she is trying to forget how huge the gym is. She feels the work was worth more than “a few measly textbooks” (4). Because of her knowledge of the campus, Merci leads the girls on a shortcut. She must convince Edna Santos, the unofficial leader...