Part 7 Summary and Analysis

Walker continues to gravitate towards friends much older than her. The reader easily forgets that she is only going into the sixth grade. Her newest friend, Lena, involves Walker in wild parties where they experiment with marijuana and alcohol. After these parties, the two girls compare stories of sexual escapades. Because of their relationship with boys, Lena suggests they both go to Planned Parenthood for birth control pills, which they do. Walker takes the prescription too, though she is not sure she needs it. In fact, the reader learns in the next section, Walker has not begun menstruating yet.

Lena and Walker spend much of their time roller-skating around San Francisco. They buy cigarettes from vending machines and smoke them in Japantown. Over the years, Lean and Walker drift apart. As an older adolescent, Walker learns that the "photography sessions" that...