Noa is an eighth-grader who lives in contemporary Los Angeles. One day, instead of going home to bake with her old friends, Wren and Annaliese, she invites a boy named Paddy over to her house. She shares her first kiss with him, but she stops him before he can go further. He nicknames her Protozoa and makes a cute rap about her. He has a large following on social media, ever since he won a slam poetry competition. Paddy leaves, and Noa tells her new high school friend, Aurora, about her first hook-up ever. Aurora tries to get Noa to join in their ritual–crying together on FaceTime for a few minutes–but Noa is too elated to indulge that kind of sadness. When Noa goes to school the next day, everyone’s seen a rap that Paddy posted about her, in which he accuses her of promiscuity. Paddy gets suspended for a while, and everyone accuses Noa for his suspension, despite it not having been her fault. She tries to apologize to Paddy, but he’s already turned against her. Aurora doesn’t answer, so she decides to find Aurora at her friends’ meeting place. Noa lies to her parents about being at a school musical and shows up to Aurora’s hang-out spot, but she doesn’t ever show up. By the time Noa gets home, she realizes that Aurora’s found a new best friend. Noa films herself crying. She turns the video into a GIF, sends it to Aurora, and posts it online. Many other girls respond with their own GIFs. Noa’s created a movement.