Conversational and Matter-of-Fact
Rita Williams-Garcia has written a novel that takes place during one school day. No really—it covers less than eight hours. Which means that she needs to move the story fast. There's not a lot of chance for digression and backstory, and, as Williams-Garcia has said, she didn't want to give easy outs for any of the characters.
So it makes a lot of sense that the style of the novel is conversational, though much of the conversation is internal dialogue the narrators have. Williams-Garcia has to pack a lot of plot and character development into a very short time-span, so each word counts. Take a look at Leticia's thoughts in the lunchroom:
But look at Trina. She can't just walk back to her table. She got to do that shaky-shake thing like she can't get enough attention. And that's why Trina can't blame anyone but Trina for this mess. (22.10)
This is how people really talk—starting with conjunctions, thinking in fragmented ways, using non-standard American English. Fortunately, though, Williams-Garcia avoids too much stream of consciousness writing, which can be a danger in first person reflective narration. Instead, her narrators are remarkably matter-of-fact with their words, Dominique most of all. For instance:
She should say what she means and mean what she says.
I'm clear.
I'm not confused. (Dominique, 10.39-41)
There's not much to explain here. Dominique, true to her self-perceived nature, is pretty straightforward. (As to whether her statements are true or not, check out the "Narrator" section.) Trina's style, though, is a little more broken and jumbled:
Feel all this love. Popular. What? So many fans. So many friends and so many who want to be. They either caught the shaky-shake and stomp in the caf or they saw my artwork in the gallery. I need a Princess Di wave. (25.5)
It's easy to follow her narration, but we get the sense that she's got too much bouncing around in her head to really form cohesive thoughts in the same way Dominique and Leticia do. That must be purposeful; perhaps her thinking is as shallow as her nature.