- Life is too boring for Maya now. (Reality TV hadn't been invented yet.) That means it's time for her to get a job.
- She decides that she wants to be a conductorette, but her mother tells her that they don't accept black people for that job.
- Guess what? She doesn't care.
- She visits the office every day for about a month, until they finally give up. She becomes the first black conductorette in San Francisco.
- After all that work, Maya only keeps the job for one semester. Hmmm.
- Before going back to school, Maya imagines that she will have a ton of friends now that she's all grown up. Turns out, though, that she's too grown up for everyone at school.
- She begins to cut classes, at least until her mom finds out. She's too much of a goody-two-shoes to keep skipping for long.
- Another important revelation in this chapter: black female teenagers not only have to deal with everything that comes along with being a teenager, but also with sexism and racism. In the end, though, it just makes them stronger.