Most of the action in "American Girls" takes place in school, where Tere endures various levels of humiliation as she struggles to make herself understood in English. The school is nondescript and seems typical of suburban schools in Florida. There Tere mixes with teachers who seem to wish to draw her out of her self-imposed seclusion, with Spanish-speaking friends, and with some cruel young adults who single her out for abuse because of her hesitancy to use accented English.

A bridge near the school is also a significant setting. This is where Tere outwits the treachery of some meanspirited boys, where she helps Mary Beth Jackson, and where she perhaps gains a new friend. The bridge physically allows Tere to cross over to make this new friend, but it also symbolizes the social gap bridged between her Spanish-speaking heritage and Mary Beth's English speaking heritage.