The Skin I’m In: Chapter 13 Summary & Analysis

Miss Saunders apologizes for being late, and then she sees that someone has drawn on the board. There’s a woman’s face on it: the left side is smooth and pretty, while the right side is cracked and drooping. Miss Saunders quickly erases the board quickly and then starts a discussion on Romeo and Juliet. Maleeka mumbles that no one wants to talk about this stuff. When Miss Saunders asks what they want to talk about, John-John says, “why Maleeka’s so black,” and Miss Saunders kicks him out of the classroom. Maleeka gets annoyed that Miss Saunders is making a big deal out of what John-John said. John-John forces out a fake apology, and Miss Saunders lets him stay.

The class continues to talk about Romeo and Juliet, and one boy named Jerimey says that it doesn’t make sense to kill yourself over someone you love, because you should love yourself most of all. He says that if you love yourself above everyone else, you’ll take good care of yourself, and you won’t try and make trouble because that’s just going to cause more problems for you.

Desda says that she wishes someone would kill themselves over her, because it’s romantic. Maleeka disagrees. She says when her dad died three years earlier, her mom fell apart. At 10 years old, Maleeka had to brush her mom’s teeth and feed her. Then, a year ago, her mom finally got up and bought a sewing machine. The more clothes she made, the happier she got. Maleeka concludes that nothing good comes from loving someone so much that you can’t live without them. The class is quiet until the bell rings.