Content Warning: This section of the guide includes discussion of racism, graphic violence, death, bullying, and anti-gay bias.

Calvin is a junior in high school and the novel’s protagonist. Along with his mother and father, he is Black but can “pass” as white. Since he was raised in Black communities in Chicago, passing is about more than looking white. Calvin’s father coaches him to change his voice, stop playing jazz music, and lie about his favorite foods, television, music, and sports teams. His father makes him repress his interest in “anything Black.” When faced with the curiosity of people like Mary, he finds it hard to remember “[w]hat [he can] answer truthfully. What ha[s] to be lies” (14). Calvin hates lying but finds that his lies escalate as he gets further into investigating the racial tensions in the town. It starts with “harmless little white lies. The ones you drop to make things just a bit easier” (1). These types of lies are supposed to keep himself and his family safe. However, Calvin starts lying about his whereabouts to his parents to go to Sojourner, see Lily, and visit Virginia.