Character Analysis
We've all been there: We're best friends with someone and do everything together, but the moment a boyfriend/girlfriend comes into the picture, we're toast. Pearl tells us it was the same way with her and Greenie.
Everything was perfect until eighth grade. Greenie was an early bloomer, and while I stayed the same shape, skinny as a tree that grew straight up, the layer of fat around Greenie's middle seemed to move up to her breasts. (13.4)
Once Greenie became attractive to guys, everything started to change between her and Pearl—and we see them drift apart. We know Greenie's madly in love with Hickey, but she spends so much time with the guy that she barely knows what's going on with Pearl anymore. Things only get frostier between these childhood friends after the fire, too, and by the time the book ends, they don't even talk anymore. It's sad for them, but so it goes with growing up sometimes.