Violets Are Blue

Twelve-year-old Wren is alone in her bedroom in Donwood, applying Seafoam Blue pigment to her face. She follows instructions from Cat FX, an online special-effects makeup artist she idolizes, to build a mermaid character of her own invention. When the garage door signals her mother Kelly's early return from her hospital shift, Wren hides a makeup kit under her bed and leaves a shoebox marked M on her desk. The hidden kit contains products sent by Vanessa, her father's new wife; the visible box holds supplies Kelly bought. Kelly appears exhausted in wrinkled scrubs and retreats to her bedroom. The click of the lock on Kelly's door unsettles Wren every time she hears it.

An extended flashback traces how Wren's family fractured. Nine months earlier, her father Peter left their home in Abingdon after a loud argument, flying to New York without saying goodbye. He mentioned Vanessa, a woman he met at a convention. Kelly sank into marathon sleeping and missed work. During spring break, Wren flew alone to Brooklyn, where Peter and Vanessa lived in a brownstone. Vanessa was visibly pregnant and warm toward Wren. Peter announced he and Vanessa were getting married in August and expecting twins. That summer in Brooklyn, Wren discovered Cat FX's videos. Cat FX's philosophy that "good weird" makeup reveals who you truly are resonated deeply with Wren. Vanessa took Wren shopping for supplies, but Wren kept the purchases secret from Kelly.

Back in Abingdon, Wren's sort-of-friend Annika hosted a makeup party and dared Wren to demonstrate. Wren transformed Annika into an Evil Zombie without showing her a mirror. Annika was furious and turned the entire grade against Wren. Isolated, Wren retreated into videos. Kelly showed unexpected understanding by asking Wren to do Bride of Frankenstein makeup on her, the first of many bonding sessions. Kelly then announced they were moving to Donwood, explaining that "a few pills went missing" at work and her supervisor had been watching her closely. Wren agreed on one condition: She wanted to change her name from Renata to Wren, after the small, fierce songbird. At Peter and Vanessa's beach wedding that August, Wren did Vanessa's makeup and felt genuine affection for her stepmother.

Seventh grade at Donwood Middle School brings a real friendship. Poppy Fairbanks, an outgoing classmate, discovers Wren's sketch of the Marvel character Nebula during math class and is thrilled by her talent. Poppy visits after school for makeup sessions and urges Wren to do makeup for the school's spring production of Wicked. Kelly, worried that Wren is too isolated, threatens to revoke computer privileges unless Wren joins activities, effectively forcing her to agree.

Vanessa continues sending expensive products, which Wren hides in a separate shoebox under her bed. Kelly grows increasingly erratic, snapping at Wren and then warmly volunteering to model the green-skinned Elphaba for Wren's audition with the show's director, Ms. Belfonte. Using Kelly as her model and Vanessa's eye shadow, which Kelly does not recognize, Wren impresses Ms. Belfonte and earns the makeup artist role. She also joins the tech crew, where she befriends Kai, a quiet boy with heterochromia (one blue eye and one brown) who shares her love of comics and fantasy. Kai develops a crush that Wren does not reciprocate, but the two remain friends, and he invites her to attend Comic Con.

Kelly's behavior becomes more alarming. She keeps her bedroom locked with a keyed lock. Her coworker Krystal begins appearing at the house because Kelly has missed shifts or is unreachable by phone. Kelly returns from one absence wearing scrubs despite not having worked, calls the situation "personal," and demands Wren never discuss her with Peter. Over the holidays, Wren visits Peter and Vanessa in Brooklyn, where Peter gives her two hundred dollars in cash. Wren hides the money in Vanessa's makeup case under her bed.

While looking for makeup remover, Wren enters Kelly's unlocked bathroom and discovers seven small orange pill bottles with no labels. Kelly explains they are for her knee, back, and sleep, obtained from the hospital. Wren is uneasy but accepts the explanation. Then Kelly announces she hired a housecleaner named Emily. When the two hundred dollars vanishes from the makeup case, Wren suspects Emily, and Kelly agrees. But Krystal later says she knows no nursing student named Emily. Unbearable questions flood Wren's mind: Did Emily even exist? Did Kelly take the money and invent a thief? Unable to face the implications, Wren pushes the suspicions away.

As opening night of Wicked approaches, Wren grows into her role, applying green makeup to Avery, the lead actress playing Elphaba, and handling other characters with increasing confidence. On opening night, Wren saves a seat for Kelly, but Kelly never arrives. Krystal and her five-year-old son Tucker sit in two of the three reserved seats; the third stays empty. Wren watches from the wings in a dissociated state. At home, Kelly is asleep on the sofa, claiming she napped after a hard shift. Wren explodes. Kelly promises to attend the Saturday matinee.

Saturday morning, Kelly's door is still locked. Wren leaves for school and places a RESERVED sign on a second-row seat. As curtain nears and the seat stays empty, something breaks inside Wren. She proposes to Kai that they leave for Comic Con in Chicago, where Cat FX is giving a live demonstration that afternoon. Kai resists but agrees when Wren insists she is going regardless. They slip out, board a train, and head to the city. On the ride, Wren applies makeup to transform Kai into Thanos and herself into Nebula.

At Comic Con, they bluff past security by blending into a cosplaying group and find Cat FX's sparsely attended demo. Afterward, Wren asks Cat FX about the mermaid's iridescent effect she has never been able to replicate. Cat FX reveals her trade secret: a final shimmery pigment called Blue Violet, deliberately omitted from her video. She applies it to Wren's cheek, and Wren experiences a moment of pure happiness.

The moment shatters when they turn their phones back on. Wren reads texts from Krystal: Kelly has been admitted to the hospital after an overdose. They race home. Krystal explains she found Kelly unresponsive and called 911. Kelly has had an addiction to opioid painkillers for some time. A hundred details cascade through Wren's mind: the locked door, the unlabeled pills, the missing money, the glassy-eyed returns. Wren sobs that she is the worst daughter in the world. Krystal holds her and insists none of it is Wren's fault.

Peter flies in from New York the next morning. He arranges for Wren to see a therapist and explains that Kelly will enter a 21-day inpatient program at the Glendale Center for Rehabilitation after a detox. If doctors recommend extending treatment, Wren may need to move to Brooklyn temporarily.

When Wren visits Kelly at Glendale, Kelly greets her in a familiar Hollywood diva voice. Then she confesses that Emily never existed: She searched Wren's room, found the money, and took it to buy pills. She asks forgiveness. Wren nods, knowing there will be time to express everything, but not yet.

Wren unpacks supplies from both shoeboxes, no longer keeping them separate. She tells Kelly she finally learned why her mermaid never looked right: Cat FX kept a secret ingredient out of her videos. She applies the mermaid makeup to Kelly's face using Blue Violet at last. Kelly asks Wren to promise to be "the true Wren," feeling all her feelings. Wren tells her mother she loves her. She acknowledges internally that her feelings may shift, that nothing is decided, and there is no step-by-step tutorial for what comes next. But in this small room, she feels nothing more complicated than love. She tells Kelly to stop talking so she can fix her lipstick.