Charlotte, Danielle, Ashlee, and Tabatha form an inseparable clique from age eight. One day, in eighth grade, Rosalee Carrasco begins her period. She bleeds through the back of her pants, and Ashlee points it out. Someone takes a picture and posts it online, which humiliates Rosalee. Rosalee retaliates by cornering the clique at school with a gun she stole from her dad. Danielle offers Rosalee money, but Rosalee shoots Tabatha. Tabatha dies. Ms. McCreary, a pregnant teacher at the middle school, hears the gunshot and attempts to resolve the tense situation. In the aftermath of the shooting, Ms. McCreary is fired as a scapegoat because she was not supposed to let students be unsupervised in the locker room. Ms. McCreary aborts her pregnancy, and tells her fiance that it was a miscarriage, and he leaves her. Danielle goes to the eighth grade prom, marries a dermatologist after college, and hires a maid named Rosa, who reminds her of the tragedy. Ashlee falls into drugs and drops out of school. Charlotte eventually transfers to a different school district, and later marries a Berkeley professor and has children.