The novel opens with the script of a true crime podcast episode from the present day. Embedded in the podcast is a witness’s testimony concerning an event from 2014, when the teenage protagonist, Madison “Maddy” Washington, burned a country club down during the high school prom, killing most of the students there.

The narration flashes back to 2014, a month before prom. Maddy is in gym class and has to complete a two-mile run, but it looks like rain. She’s terrified of her hair getting wet because when her hair gets wet, it reverts to its natural curly state and reveals that she is biracial. In this rural, mostly white Georgia town, her father has forced her to pass as white. As she runs with the other girls, she envies that they don’t have to worry about their hair. Her hair gets drenched, and her attempts to straighten it or put it in a ponytail in the locker room fail.

When Maddy arrives (late) to history class, the white kids, who have never seen her hair curly, mock her mercilessly. A girl named Jules throws pencils so that they’ll stick in

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