Bird, Fitch, and Cash each confront circumstances in the novel in how they are perceived contrasts with how they feel about themselves. The characters’ social contexts shape how they see themselves, how they are seen by others, and how they feel about both.

When Cash breaks his wrist, he is forced to confront his inability to participate in athletic activities. Cash is also repeating seventh grade, and he feels the fracturing in his relationships with his peers, especially with his two closest friends, who will be graduating middle school, as Cash might have been. The isolation and embarrassment that Cash feels at school, where everyone knows he failed a grade and many him differently as a result, is combined with his isolation from the sport that he enjoys and the social atmosphere and camaraderie that came with being part of the team. Cash is inspired to discover for himself what he is good at, and his identity evolves as he attaches himself not to one role or label, but as he defines himself as someone determined to succeed by finding what makes him uniquely valuable.

Bird has always received admiration and reinforcement from her teachers for her scholastic aptitude, but as often happens in middle school, Bird begins to contemplate her appearance, in her own estimations as well as how she appears to her peers.