Maleeka Madison is a seventh grader at McClenton Middle School. She is constantly made fun of for her Black skin; her tall, thin body; and the ill-fitting clothes that her mom makes for her. When Miss Saunders, Maleeka’s new English teacher, arrives at the school, she has a white streak across her face—likely due to a skin condition called vitiligo. A girl named Charlese makes fun of her, but Miss Saunders doesn’t let this bother her. In class, Miss Saunders explains that she’s grown to love her face.
Last year, Maleeka stayed out of trouble until Caleb Assam, a cute, popular boy in school, told her he liked her, and they started going out. When other students—including Charlese—saw the pair together, they made fun of Maleeka relentlessly. One day on the school bus, a boy named John-John led other students in a song about Maleeka being so Black that people couldn’t see her. Caleb left Maleeka and went to sit with his friends—and after this betrayal, people made fun of Maleeka even more. Finally, she decided to offer to do Charlese’s homework if Charlese would let Maleeka hang out with her. Charlese agreed and started bringing in new clothes for Maleeka to wear.
One day, Miss Saunders gives the students an assignment to write a journal from the perspective of a teenager in the 17th century. Maleeka writes about a girl named Akeelma, who is on a slave ship headed for America and whose situations frequently mirror Maleeka’s own. Miss Saunders praises Maleeka’s writing and lets her continue the assignment for extra credit. A few days later, Maleeka gets into a fight at school when a girl attacks Maleeka for something Charlese did, and Maleeka takes the fall for it. Miss Saunders and Maleeka’s mom devise a plan for Maleeka to work in the school office so that she stays out of trouble.
That weekend, Maleeka decides to get a haircut with her friend Sweets, and the women in the salon show Maleeka how to wear her hair with confidence. At school, however, the students make fun of her hair, and Maleeka cries in the bathroom. Then, Maleeka remembers that her dad, who died three years ago, said she had to see herself with her own eyes. She looks at herself in the hand mirror that her dad gave her, cleans herself up, and walks confidently out of the bathroom.
One weekend, Maleeka goes over to Charlese’s house. Charlese’s parents died two years ago, and her 25-year-old sister JuJu takes care of her. JuJu constantly throws parties, and the house is dirty and full of strangers. Maleeka feels bad for Charlese and slips out of the house. On her way home, two boys attack her and try and kiss her. Maleeka bites and scratches them, and when they let her free, she runs all the way home and doesn’t tell her mom what happened. Instead, she writes in Akeelma’s diary about the incident, and she realizes that it’s hard to know where Akeelma’s thoughts begin and hers end. When she shows her writing to Miss Saunders, she says that writing is Maleeka’s gift.
Later, Maleeka skips out on her office job to hang out with Charlese, Raise, and Raina, who make fun of her as if she isn’t there. They also smoke and write all over the bathroom stalls. Miss Saunders comes into the bathroom and breaks up their party, giving them all detention. At detention, Caleb is there too. He explains to Maleeka he left her on the bus last year because he thought that kids would stop teasing her if they weren’t together. Now, he sees that kids tease her anyway, and he confesses that he still likes her. Maleeka, however, is wary of trusting him again.
The next day, Maleeka submits her writing to a local library competition. When she does, her mother tells her that her dad used to write as well, and she shows Maleeka a poem he wrote for Maleeka calling her “brown,” “beautiful,” and “brilliant.” That same day, JuJu comes into the office and yells at Miss Saunders for giving Charlese bad grades—but Miss Saunders stands firm. After this incident, Charlese wants to get back at Miss Saunders by trashing her classroom. Maleeka is hesitant about this, but Charlese threatens to beat her up, and so Maleeka is forced to go along with the plan.
One morning, Charlese, Maleeka, Raise, and Raina sneak into Miss Saunders’s room and start to vandalize it. Charlese forces Maleeka to burn a pile of foreign money on Miss Saunders’s desk, and soon after the curtains catch fire. The four of them run away, but the janitor catches sight of Maleeka as she goes. Maleeka is suspended and will be forced to pay $2,000 in fines. Charlese warns Maleeka not to rat them out and says that she’ll help pay back the money. Maleeka is nervous about what to do: she doesn’t want Charlese to attack her, but she knows it’s unfair for her to get in trouble for something she didn’t want to do.
While Maleeka is still suspended, she runs into John-John on the street, and he continues to make fun of her. Soon after, a group of boys attacks John-John, and Maleeka defends him and wards off the boys until a group of adults and Caleb show up to help them.
When Maleeka gets home, she receives a letter from the library announcing that she won the contest. She is overwhelmed with emotion, and her mom is proud. Maleeka decides to call Charlese and tell her that she’s going to tell the truth about what happened, but Charlese tells her that they slipped Miss Saunders’s watch into Maleeka’s locker, so now the school really thinks that she committed the crime. She repeats that if Maleeka tells on her, she’ll beat her up. That evening, when Miss Saunders shows up at Maleeka’s home asking to know the truth about what happened, Maleeka tells her that she acted alone.
The next day, Maleeka returns to school, and Miss Saunders meets with Charlese and Maleeka together. Charlese calls Maleeka an “ugly, stupid, black thing,” and Maleeka thinks of what Akeelma would say. She yells back at Charlese, explaining that she’s not ugly or stupid. Then, Maleeka confesses that Charlese, Raise, and Raina forced her to mess up Miss Saunders’s room. Miss Saunders hugs Maleeka, glad that she finally told the truth.
In the aftermath of Maleeka’s revelation, JuJu sends Charlese to live with her grandparents in Alabama. Caleb writes a poem for Maleeka, calling her “my sweet dark chocolate candy girl.” Maleeka thinks it’s the nicest thing anyone has ever done for her. When she arrives in Miss Saunders’s class that day, Miss Saunders greets her warmly, and John-John says, “welcome back.”
