Claudia Coleman

Claudia is a teenager who narrates Monday’s Not Coming. She reflects on her best friend Monday’s disappearance from the onset of her realizing that Monday is missing. In “The Before,” Claudia is 14 years old and just starting eighth grade at her middle school. She notices that Monday is absent from school and will not contact her. She is concerned, but it takes weeks for her to bring this up to her parents and trusted teachers, like Ms. Valente, before she gets any insight about her friend’s disappearance.

Claudia is determined to find Monday because she cannot imagine her life without her best friend. She is nervous to attend school because Monday is her only friend, especially after Jacob started a rumor about her being a lesbian. Her peers Shayla and Ashley bully her. She feels heartbroken at having lost the trusting relationship she had...