Pretty Ugly

At Aunt Charlotte’s house, Jamee is sensitive to comments she considers demeaning to herself and her family. For example, Charlotte makes a vegetable lasagna for dinner and tells everyone she used organic vegetables because “I know you probably don’t get good produce where you live” (45). Charlotte often makes these kinds of pointed comments, which infuriate Jamee but seem to have little to no effect on the rest of her family. On her last visit, Jamee exploded at Charlotte and was told to leave and never come back. Charlotte makes a couple of condescending comments about Jamee’s academics and then reveals that she’s purchased the family a gift. It’s a new laptop computer, which Charlotte says will help Darcy “compete” for a good college. She also suggests that Jamee’s mother can use it to search for childcare tips, and Jamee’s father can take online classes to help him get a better job. Jamee’s mother tries to say they can’t accept such a generous gift, but Charlotte insists. They spend the rest of the evening looking at colleges online and talking about Darcy’s future. 

In algebra class the next morning, Jamee lies to Mrs. Guessner, telling the teacher that her mother signed the paper, but Jamee forgot it at home.