Carley, the protagonist, is an eighth-grade girl. Her mother raised Carley in Las Vegas. When Carley’s maternal grandfather passed away, leaving his property to Carley’s mother, Carley and her mother moved to Connecticut, where the story takes place.

Carley’s characterization intertwines with her experiences. She believes that she’s streetwise and “tough”: Her single mother taught her to keep emotions locked inside and offered her little tenderness and no sense of stability or security, though the two had fun times together. In addition, her mother encouraged her to show “strength”: She condoned and even encouraged young Carley’s impertinent remarks to teachers, for example, and would laugh at Carley when she cried. Consequently, Carley displays a quick wit, stubbornness, and a tendency to talk back. Carley loves books; she reads frequently and enjoys the library. She also loves basketball. In Las Vegas, she was on a basketball team and went to school; however, after the move to Connecticut, her mother didn’t enroll her in school, saying that she’d learn more directly from “living life” (23).

Carley feels that her mother chose poorly in marrying a new husband, Dennis. The backstory reveals that one night Dennis blamed Carley when her mother fell in the kitchen.