Part Four: Chapters 77 - 85 Summary

In preparation for her sixteenth birthday, LaVaughn invites all her friends to her house for a party. Remembering the minister's words, she decides to invite everyone she cares for, regardless of how they feel about her. She invites Myrtle and Annie but her best friends question whether they should attend. The church has asked them to limit their contact with nonbelievers so they don't slip back into their sinful lives. LaVaughn is horrified, surely this is the opposite of true religion, at least the way the minister explained it to her. Despite their fears of contamination, Myrtle and Annie agree to come to the party because it's LaVaughn's Sweet 16. When LaVaughn gets home from school that day, her mother is replacing all the photos of LaVaughn's father she had taken down while dating Lester. She claims that...