You Should See Me in a Crown

Liz has only risen five spots in the rankings for prom court and she, Britt, and Gabi are gathered at the Marino residence to strategize further. Gabi is distressed by the lack of significant improvement in Liz’s rankings, and begins to dictate that Liz needs a complete overhaul of her appearance. Britt chimes in to suggest that Rachel’s success might not be about her makeup or her hair, but because “this is a system designed to benefit people like Rachel Collins” (64).

Gabi brushes this off and insinuates that Mack is getting too close to Liz and will negatively impact her score. Mack has a pride flag hanging on her locker and though Gabi tries not to say it so bluntly, Liz says it for her, that no one will want to vote for Mack “if they think she’s queer” (65). Liz’s own sexuality is not a secret to her friends or her family. Her grandparents accepted her without question.

Though Gabi tries to comfort Liz, she says, “Nobody would ever guess that you’re into girls. I mean, you hide it so well,” (65). Liz is upset with this conversation and frustrated that she is never able to completely be her full self, constantly forced to make her identity make sense to others around her. She leaves in tears.

The next morning finds Liz, Britt, and Stone plastering posters over the hallways, choir, and band rooms. Britt designed the posters herself and they feature a picture of Liz with her clarinet, a photoshopped gold crown on her head in a color scheme akin to Andy Warhol’s artwork. Jordan’s posters have taken over the cafeteria, so they decide to focus their posters in areas where art and music students are more likely to be found.

Gabi is nowhere to be seen; she tried to call Liz numerous times the night before, but Liz did not answer. Later that day, Liz and Mack are partnered up to help the choir stack up chairs in preparation for a concert. They spend over an hour together, talking as they work. They discover that Kittredge is their favorite band and that both of their mothers have passed away. Mack reveals that her mother was once prom queen and that she wants to run for the experience of it, to make friends. Mack’s mother would have been proud of her for doing so. Liz isn’t sure her if own mother would be, but she desperately hopes so. 

Liz receives a text message from her grandmother about Robbie. Robbie has had a crisis, a term used by sufferers of sickle cell anemia to refer to sudden attacks of pain. Though her grandmother assures Liz not to hurry home, Liz is worried. Sickle cell anemia is a genetic condition that affects the shape of red blood cells, changing them so much so that they are unable to properly travel through the bloodstream. This causes patients with sickle cell anemia an intense amount of pain which is often unaffected by medication. Any amount of activity could push Robbie into a crisis and Liz feels unable to help.

Liz receives the message while she is walking in the hallway and stops directly in her tracks in front of Jordan. Jordan touches her on the shoulder, concerned for her. Liz is skeptical but also she appreciates it when he walks her to her AP Chemistry class. Later in the day, Gabi reappears at school after disappearing for two days. She returns with no apology but with a box of buttons with Liz’s face on them. Liz knows that Gabi is bad with apologies and though she accepts the buttons as a peace offering Liz remains upset with her best friend. Liz is frustrated and overwhelmed by everything, but she finds solace in band rehearsal. 

Liz and Mack are at Bryant House, a community center that serves a predominantly Black neighborhood. Liz volunteers at Bryant House whenever she has the time, and she decides to bring Mack there when they are supposed to be stacking chairs for the high school’s choir function. It feels pointless to Liz to waste time helping Campbell, “a town that already has all the resources it needs” (79). Liz brings Mack to the community center that serves as “a day care, a summer camp, a refuge for neighborhood kids with nowhere else to go” (80).

While there, Liz’s crush on Mack grows even stronger when she sees how good Mack is with kids, specifically, with a little girl named Peanut. Liz introduces Mack to Dr. Lamont, a former hematologist who now runs the center. Dr. Lamont used to treat Robbie and is the inspiration for Liz wanting to become a hematologist. Dr. Lamont instructs both girls to read to the children. Mack’s enthusiasm in doing so only makes Liz like her even more. Liz remembers that when she brought Gabi to Bryant House, Gabi ended up leaving in tears when a child painted on her favorite purse.

Liz and Jordan finally reach a truce. Liz is running late for work at Melody after she comes clean to Mr. K about not getting the scholarship to Pennington. When Jordan sees her coming out of school, he offers to give her a ride to work. Liz accepts. Jordan admits to Liz that it has been nice hanging out with her, with someone who really knows him for who he is. Liz understands this and realizes that she used to feel that way with him and, until recently, Gabi. Liz does not get the apology that she wants from Jordan, but she begins to understand that Jordan only did what he thought he had to in order to survive their first year of high school. Liz and Jordan pinky swear their truce. 

The high school’s annual prom powder-puff football game is one where the girls participating in prom court square off against one another in a scrimmage. The boys don cheerleading outfits and cheer on the two separate teams. On the day of the game, almost the entire town turns out to the stadium to watch the match. Quinn Bukowski, one of Rachel’s friends, is nice to Liz, and also happens to be the designated quarterback of their team. Quinn knows a lot about football and plans an entire strategy for them to win the game. With Jordan’s tip that Liz is an excellent runner, Quinn plans for Liz to get the ball and score a touchdown. The plan works and their team wins.

Despite her anxiety, Liz finds that she is actually having fun. Throughout the game, Liz’s confidence grows steadily. They continue to score extra points. When Liz gets the ball and begins running again, Rachel tackles her. Liz gets bruised and Rachel gets reprimanded by the referee. Strategizing like Gabi taught her to, Liz has Jordan carry her to the field house. The crowd begins chanting her name.

When they finally get to the field house, Jordan sets Liz down on a treatment table. Gabi texts Liz, telling her that she has risen to seventh place and Rachel has fallen to third. Jordan leaves when Mack arrives with a first aid kit to help clean her wounds. Liz asks Mack why she was late to the game and Mack proceeds to ask Liz out on a date to the Kittredge show the next night. Liz is delighted and, in that moment, forgets entirely about the prom and the scholarship. 

Liz wears an outfit that she actually feels comfortable in for her date with Mack. She also wears her hair in two puffs at the top of her head instead of the usual slicked back style she wears to school. Liz’s comfort around Mack is especially clear as she allows Mack to pick her up from her house, something she has only ever let Gabi do in the past.

That same night, Gabi asks if Liz wants to strategize over at her house., Liz lies and says that she has to do homework. In the car with Mack, Liz tells her that she isn’t technically out of the closet. Though Mack is disappointed by this, she is quick to point out that she understands, and that she does not want Liz to be unsafe as a result of coming out. Liz is more concerned with dropping in the prom polls and failing to get the scholarship because of her queerness than she is about being unsafe, but she doesn’t tell Mack this.

Liz learns that Mack is cousins with the front man of her favorite band, Kittredge. Mack is able to leverage this relationship and get them both in to meet and hang out with the band before the show. Liz is starstruck. Liz and Mack hold hands throughout the show and have a good time together. Afterward, they both get milkshakes and talk; Mack had initially been afraid to tell Liz about being cousins with the front man because she did not want to seem like she was trying too hard to impress her. They chat and Mack confesses that she likes it when Liz calls her Amanda. They talk about what they want to do when they grow up, and how they both feel about music. Eventually, Mack asks if she can kiss Liz. Liz says yes and they do. Liz’s overenthusiasm accidentally knocks their teeth together, but they laugh it off before kissing again. Mack asks Liz if she wants to be her girlfriend and she says yes.