Prep

In the spring of Lee’s junior year, Martha receives a nomination for female senior prefect. Prefects run roll call and the disciplinary committee; their names are engraved on white marble panels in the dining hall. She’s running against Aspeth and Gillian Hathaway. Gillian was the sophomore prefect and serves as the junior prefect, and she identifies as a Republican. Some of the boys nominated for prefect are Nick, Darden, and Cross.

Lee makes Martha a paper crown, and Martha puts it on, but she doesn’t think she’ll win. Martha is wise and kind but not “cool.” Still, Lee imagines Martha and Cross winning and having late-night meetings. Martha reminds Lee that she’s not the person in love with him, but Cross nominated her, and Conchita seconded the nomination. Martha thinks Cross is “self-centered,” and in public, they refer to Cross as “Purple Monkey.”

In elementary school, Lee excelled in math, but she’s failing math at Ault. Dean Fletcher tells Lee she’s a vital part of Ault, which Martha translates as there’s a possibility Lee will be subject to “spring-cleaning”—expelled. Lee thinks about other students subject to “spring-cleaning,” like Little. Each Ault yearbook features the students of spring cleaning with a “Lost But Not Forgotten” section.