This chapter takes place in June of that year. Marin and Mabel arrive at Mabel’s house after shopping for a party. Mabel’s mother, Ana, an artist of increasing renown, asks the girls to come look at a collage she’s working on. Marin admires the beauty of the scene: “a night sky, smooth layers of black on black, with stars shining so bright they almost glittered” (76). Ana feels the painting is lacking something, but she is not sure what it needs.

The girls go to Mabel’s room and change into their dresses. They make an event out of getting ready together, fussing over their makeup, hair, and accessories. The dresses are identical but for their colors: Marin’s is black, Mabel’s is red. The girls enjoy the symmetry of their clothing choices as well as that of their names: “an M followed by a vowel, then a consonant, then a vowel, then a consonant” (77). The similarity makes them feel as though their friendship was destined. When they go downstairs, Mabel’s parents, Ana and Javier, tell Mabel that she must go upstairs and change and that she is not allowed to go out in a dress that looks like lingerie.