Content Warning: This section of the guide includes discussion of racism, homicide, and the death of a parent.

Kiera Johnson is an honors student in her senior year at Jefferson Academy. She and her little sister, Steph, are two of only three Black girls at the school. Steph is president of Beta Beta Psi, “a collective of the eight most outspoken, unapologetic, woke feminists at Jefferson Academy” (2). Kiera’s best friend, a white girl named Harper, is the sorority’s vice president. Harper asks Kiera if she is allowed to get locs. Harper’s brother, Wyatt, is the chief editor of the school’s newspaper, and he asks to interview Kiera on the topic. Kiera avoids giving an answer to the contentious question because she doesn’t like being treated as a spokesperson for the entire Black community. Steph, Harper, and Wyatt leave soon after Kiera’s boyfriend, Malcolm, joins them. Steph and Malcolm dislike each other, and Harper and Wyatt are intimidated by Malcolm because he was expelled from Belmont High School after getting into a fight—a fight he intervened in to protect Kiera. Kiera still misses the community and diversity of Belmont despite the fact that the school was underfunded.