The Skin I'm In

The chapter opens with the newest diary entry: Akeelma and the others are taken up to the deck where they finally see the sun. Up there, she also sees Kinjari again.

The narrative returns to Maleeka, who is in the detention room in the school basement with Miss Birdy, the detention teacher. Caleb comes in and sits near Maleeka. He tells her he has detention because he was caught cleaning the boys’ bathroom. Miss Birdy catches them talking and separates them, but Caleb comes back closer once she looks away. Maleeka is astonished at the thought of someone voluntarily cleaning something disgusting like the boys’ room, but she remembers that Caleb and his father volunteer often, so he is proud of the work. When Caleb starts to chat about the cleaning process and about how people should take better care of bathrooms, Miss Birdy separates them again, so they switch to passing notes.

In a note, Caleb tells Maleeka that he cleaned the bathroom because he wanted to stand up for the right thing. Maleeka is confused, since he didn’t stand up for her when the kids were teasing her on the bus. Instead of writing a note back to him, she ignores him and writes her own diary entry about how much she likes Caleb but struggles to forgive him.