Vivian is embarrassed in English class when the teacher, Mr. Davies, calls on her; Viv never speaks up in class. When a new student to the school, Lucy Hernandez, raises her hand and answers the question, football player Mitchell Wilson interrupts her to say, “Make me a sandwich” (2). Instead of reprimanding Mitchell, the teacher gives the whole class homework.

Mitchell Wilson is the star of the football team, which is the only thing their high school in the small town of East Rockport, population 6,000, has going for it, so no one ever disciplines Mitchell about his behavior. Vivian sits with her best friend, Claudia, and their other friends for lunch. They are the “sweet, mostly normal girls […] nice girls” (6). Vivian sees Lucy sitting alone, but she doesn’t want to become a target for Mitchell and his loud friends, so Vivian doesn’t ask Lucy to sit with her.

Vivian’s mom is now a nurse at the urgent care center, but in her youth, she listened to punk rock and was known for being rebellious. Their cat is named Joan Jett, after a singer in a 1970s all-girl band called the Runaways.