Big Mouth & Ugly Girl

Without much convincing from Ms. Schultz, Ursula rejoins the basketball team. She admits she missed her teammates and feels a fiery red pride “entering the locker room to change into [her] uniform, and all of [them], the team, moving into the gym together” (239). Proud to be cheered on by her teammates, Ursula realizes that Ugly Girl is “a uniform, or a skin” (240) that she no longer needs to wear all the time. Upon rejoining the team, new team captain Courtney Levao offers the position back to Ursula, but Ursula refuses after seeing that Courtney is well-liked by the team. She acknowledges this is a skill she could learn from her new captain.

Matt attends both games Ursula plays before the season ends, as do Lisa and Ursula’s mother. Lisa is spending less time on ballet, losing interest in the activity. When Ursula introduces Matt to her mother, she finds him very sweet and not at all the troublemaker she expected. Ursula’s father calls her before the game, saying he really wishes he could be there.