In history class on March 20, Charles notices Sita is uncharacteristically distant. When he tries to speak with her, she walks away.

Outside the culinary arts classroom, Andrea is confronted by friends including Lolia, Ana, and Sita. They reveal that a racist Instagram account, @yungcavage, features pictures of her. News spreads quickly among Black students, and the group grows to include Rina, the junior class president. The girls become distraught, crying and sharing their hurt. Andrea is furious but not surprised and punches a mural.

Andrea’s history with the boys began in fall 2016 when Greg touched her hair in class without permission. Charles secretly filmed it and posted it to his private Instagram with the caption, “Touching the nap” (56). After friends urged him and Andrea messaged him, Charles deleted the video. 

Days later, another photo of the back of her head appeared with a derogatory caption—taken by someone sitting behind her; Andrea inferred it was Murphy. She confronted Charles and forced him to delete it. Though she spoke to a vice principal at her mother’s urging, she asked the school not to act, fearing it would worsen the situation.

A security guard moves the distraught girls to a conference room with vice principals Tami Benau and Melisa Pfohl. The administrators provide Incident Witness forms. Some girls are too upset to write; others fill pages detailing past racist remarks previously dismissed as “boys being dumb” (60). With only memories as evidence, they worry it will be their word against the boys’.

Albany High has a history of social media scandals with little administrative response. The author details a 2012 sex competition and a 2015 Instagram account called “Broke Boys,” which both targeted and degraded female students. Following the 2015 incident, the school paper’s editorial criticized the administration. Then-principal Ted Barone acknowledged the cyberbullying matter should have been handled better and urged students to “capture incriminating posts” for future evidence (63).

Kerry, an Asian friend of Andrea, discovers Eren, a sophomore she barely knows, is a follower of @yungcavage. Kerry, Eren, and Rosie share a fifth-period psychology class. Kerry asks Rosie to borrow Eren’s phone under a false pretense and meet her in the restroom.

In the bathroom, Kerry and Rosie scroll through Eren’s private Instagram. Kerry begins to shake as she photographs the screen, capturing horrifically racist posts including images of lynchings and KKK jokes. In three minutes, she documents the 24 most offensive posts, comments, and followers. They return to class, and Rosie hands the phone back to an unsuspecting Eren.

During fifth period, Vice Principal Benau questions Murphy about the account. He says as little as possible, acknowledging the posts exist while trying to protect Charles. Afterward, Murphy, Jon, Patrick, and Wyatt have an anxious discussion but decide against unfollowing Charles. Greg warns Charles that the account has been discovered, advising him to deactivate it. Charles removes all followers so the account won’t be visible.

Kerry returns to the conference room and airdrops screenshots to Vice Principal Pfohl and the girls. Andrea sees numerous posts targeting her, including captions calling her hair “nappy.” Most painful is her favorite photo from a Tahoe trip with Lydia, taken from her own Instagram and paired with a gorilla. Devastated, Andrea realizes the racism is too blatant to deny. She thinks of her late father and imagines his fury if he saw the posts.

Andrea’s relationship with her deceased Black father, Harrison, was difficult. A Marine veteran, he was good-humored publicly but strict and angry at home, likely from depression and health problems. Their relationship fractured in sixth grade when he choked her during an argument, and her parents separated shortly afterward. Harrison died of a second aneurysm the summer before high school, leaving Andrea with unresolved anger and grief. Now, Andrea yearns for her father’s protective anger.

Vice Principal Tami Benau identifies two posts as potential threats: Charles’s declaration that he is thinking of bringing a “rope to school” and a picture of Lolia and her coach with a noose drawn around their necks (77). She calls the Albany police. When Murphy is called back seventh period, two police officers are waiting. Realizing the gravity, he decides to stop withholding information.

Police interview the targeted girls, asking if they were ever physically harmed or felt endangered. The girls explain they hadn’t, as the boys were friends or in their social circle. Police inform them that while horrifying, the posts are not criminal.

At home, Ana’s phone is overwhelmed with texts. She is haunted by the image of Lolia with a noose around her neck.

Rina’s mother is visibly distraught about the posts. Her father, who grew up in a racist town, remains stoic. He advises Rina not to let the boys see her pain, warning her this won’t be the last racism she encounters.

That night, many targeted girls post a Snapchat image of a bloody knife captioned “Racism at its finest” (81). Rina posts “BLACK IS BEAUTIFUL” (81). Boys who followed @yungcavage blame Charles, post vague apologies, or send private messages offering excuses.

At the movies, Eren’s phone floods with messages accusing him of being racist. He posts a statement denying he created @yungcavage or condoned its content. A commenter replies that by following and not speaking out, he was condoning it. Eren experiences a night of anxious self-reflection.

This analytical chapter explores contradictory definitions of racism: overt hatred versus microaggressions, individual moral failing versus systemic force, learned behavior versus innate bias. The chapter concludes the most useful definition is “a system of advantages based on race” (87). One upholds this system through active discrimination or passive complicity like lack of empathy.

This short chapter describes the boys who followed the account watching their names circulate. Follower counts plummet, and friends leave group chats. They confront the reality that their school now views them as racists.

Rosie tries to give Eren the benefit of the doubt until she receives a screenshot of his comment on the account. The post was an iPhone text replacement page showing the two g’s in the “N-word” replaced with red B emojis. Eren commented, “stupid ni B B er” (90). Rosie concludes his involvement is completely unjustifiable.

That night, principal Jeff Anderson and superintendent Val Williams text about handling the situation. Anderson suggests pursuing expulsion if evidence is strong. Williams agrees, adding they could later revoke a suspension for “tangential involvement.” The author notes the administrators’ unfamiliarity with social media complicates determining culpability among 13 followers.

At home, Charles is overwhelmed by texts from former close friends Kerry, Ana, and Sita expressing disappointment. When Kerry messages him, he initially denies creating the account. She urges honesty, and he admits, “Yeah, it was me.” (93). He apologizes, trying to salvage friendships. His mother tells him the vice principal called, and they must report to the principal’s office the next morning.

Devastated, Charles calls his sister Eliza at college. Sobbing, he says he’s done something “really bad” and wants to hurt himself. Eliza calms him and helps draft an apology. That night, he posts a statement taking full responsibility, condemning his “stupid judgment,” and stating he doesn’t expect forgiveness. He falls asleep exhausted.

Eliza processes the call from her college dorm, thinking “Again,” reflecting on their family’s crisis history. Having believed she succeeded in protecting Charles, she realizes he faces the harsh spotlight she once endured, and worries no one but her will care what happens.

In February 2012, police arrested Eliza’s and Charles’s father for possession of child pornography. A local newspaper published an article including their street. Eliza shielded Charles from the details, and their mother would only say his “Dad made a mistake” (101). The family never spoke of it again, and their father disappeared.

In October 2012, months after the arrest of Charles’s father, James Izumizaki, a beloved teacher, coach, and father figure to Charles, was arrested for molesting two former students. A week later, Izumizaki died by suicide. Charles showed no outward grief in front of his family. Internally, he concluded, “Everyone makes mistakes” (105), preserving his positive image of Izumizaki.

In 2016, a curious 16-year-old Charles Googled why his father had been arrested and quickly found articles about the child pornography charges. He told no one—not his mother, sister, or friends—preferring to leave the family trauma unexamined.