Tam trods resignedly to school, where she'll suffer the absence of her closest friend Kelly, who's disappeared into the arms of her new boyfriend and his scene. Kelly tried setting her up with one of these friends, but her boyfriend Ben told her the guys didn't think Tam was hot because she's Mexican. When Tam told her mother this, she embraced Tam in a consoling hug. Now, Tam abruptly decides to skip school and head to Berkeley, where her parents met and protested together in their hippie, socially conscious days. At a pizza shop she spots the girl ahead of her who can't find her cash, and they eat together. Lourdes is also cutting school to get ready for her band's first gig. She invites Tam to come. Both girls are Mexican and like the same music; they hit it off immediately. Lourdes' band is called Las Pochas, meaning "Not Mexican enough" - a comment on what it means to be Mexican-American. The two confide in each other off the bat, and while they're getting ready, they kiss. The gig venue, Gilman Street, turns out to be a glittery, progressive punk metropolis. Tam loves the energy and the look of everyone there. She realizes Lourdes has a partner, but she's taken instead with Marco, a pretty brown boy with blue eyeshadow and a Mohawk. They go to the same school, where both dress inconspicuously because they don't feel safe expressing their true identities. Marco gives Tam a ride home and she invites him in for breakfast, thinking her mom will still be on a double shift. It turns out her mother is home but isn't wildly upset like Tam thought she'd be. They have breakfast together and in Tam's room, her and Marco kiss.