“She was very quiet and rarely said anything at all.”

Wanda is characterized as shy and reserved. This may be because Wanda feels aware of her differences from the other girls: She is poor, owns one dress, and struggles to speak English fluently.

“She came all the way from Boggins Heights, and her feet were usually caked with dry mud that she picked up walking down the country roads.”

Wanda’s poverty is established by her home, which is far away down muddy country roads. The mud she picks up on her walk emphasizes both the distance she travels, as well as the undesirability of the area in which her family lives.

“Peggy was the most popular girl in school. She was pretty; she had many pretty clothes and her auburn hair was curly.”

Peggy is established as a foil to Wanda’s isolation and poverty. Peggy is beautiful, popular, and affluent, marking her as a powerful classmate. While Wanda is an outsider, Peggy is the ultimate insider. Peggy’s role as the class bully is also implied, as she has the power to dictate who should be teased by the rest of the class. Other classmates, like Maddie, don’t interfere because they fear being bullied next.