Mallory Moss, who goes by the name “Mal,” is the novel’s protagonist and first-person narrator. She is a 12-year-old seventh grader at Gibbons Academy, a Christian private school in Florida. Mal is biracial—her mother is part Korean. She is a dynamic character who changes through the course of the novel as she learns to understand her that her desire to fit in led to her bullying Jennifer Chan. Mal faces the hurt she caused and takes responsibility for her actions. She represents the novel’s message that good people can do bad things, learn from their mistakes, and improve themselves.

At the beginning of the novel, Mal represents conformity, insecurity, and passivity. At her school’s annual Christmas concert, she “welcome[s] the sameness” of the songs that are performed “all year, every year” (1). She finds comfort in the familiar routine, and her comment shows her acceptance of following the norm. Mal believes that other people’s opinions are crucial in defining who she is, and she compares her insecurities to an “invisible audience” that ceaselessly follows her around and watches her. Her social anxieties are so strong that her fear of missteps and being judged once caused her to faint on a Ferris wheel ride.