Summary

In 2000, Elizabeth is 16. Her best friend, Sasha is 17. While Sasha's family is away, the girls throw a belated birthday party. Though Elizabeth is uncomfortable around their classmates, she feels least restless around Sasha.

In 2017, Elizabeth is 34, married with two small children. Every morning she goes on a long run, occasionally has sex with her husband afterwards, and takes the train into the charter school where she teaches literature. This is her first full-time job. On the train, Elizabeth checks "Sasha's mostly dormant Facebook" (8).

At work, Elizabeth tries gaining the respect of her two co-homeroom teachers. Of all the teachers they are the oldest at the school. Elizabeth's co-teacher, a 24-year-old obsessed with discipline, is her least favorite. Though she loves her students, Elizabeth knows the system underserves them. At lunch, she and her homeroom teachers "talk shit about [their] coworkers'' (11).

One day, Elizabeth...