Then a new kid shows up, a boy named Free. Dyamonde knows how it feels to be the new kid, so she'd like to be extra nice to him. But he won't let anyone be nice to him. He grunts when people talk to him, refuses to read aloud in class, scares the little kids by yelling at them when they get in his way, and is not at all the sort of person, Dyamonde thinks, that anyone could possibly be nice to. She doesn't realize that as she focuses more on Free's behavior and why he acts that way, she's completely forgotten about her desire to fit in and make friends, and that's when something surprising happens...