Bev

Bev is Natasha Kingsley's best friend and one of the closest witnesses to the upheaval surrounding Natasha's impending deportation. Their friendship appears in small, concrete forms: a photograph from physics lab, weeks of shared homework, repeated embraces at farewell, and a message sent from California while Natasha tries to find a way to remain in the United States.

Friendship and Shared History

Natasha keeps a photograph of herself and Bev on her desk. In it, they wear safety goggles in physics lab: Natasha came up with the goggles, while Bev supplied the sexy-pouting pose. The photograph sits among the belongings that make Natasha's half of the shared living room still look lived-in, while her brother Peter has already packed most of his things. In a room divided by a bright blue curtain, the picture is a modest but vivid trace of a friendship embedded in Natasha's everyday life.

Their closeness also involves practical help. After Natasha challenged Bev's plans for college, it took weeks of doing Bev's physics homework to make amends. The detail gives their friendship a familiar texture: affection does not prevent friction, and repair takes more than a single conversation.

Optimism and Disagreement

Bev is relentlessly optimistic, even when the odds look poor. She buys lottery tickets, while Natasha makes fun of people who buy them. That contrast becomes especially clear in Bev's hopes for her relationship with Derrick. During the fall, she repeatedly checks the time difference between colleges where he might apply and asks whether long-distance relationships work. Natasha tells her not to base her entire future on her current high-school boyfriend. Bev does not take the advice well; she believes the relationship will last, while Natasha expects it to end by graduation or perhaps sometime that summer.

Their disagreement is not simply about college planning. Bev's hopefulness and Natasha's skepticism lead them to read the same uncertain future differently. The argument strains the friendship, but the weeks of homework that follow show Natasha making an effort to restore it.

Farewell and Continued Connection

Natasha and Bev know for months that deportation is coming. When they say their official goodbye, Natasha does not cry, but the parting is difficult. Bev gives her hope that Natasha might still be in the United States when Bev returns, and they hug seventeen times. Bev would have gone with Natasha that day, but she is in California with her family, touring Berkeley and other state schools.

The separation does not end their contact. At 5:30 in the morning in California, Bev sends Natasha a string of question marks, checking in as Natasha leaves the building with the name of a lawyer who might help. Natasha considers telling her about this development, then decides it is not really a development; she replies that there is nothing yet. Her wish that Bev were with her, or that she could be with Bev touring colleges and having a normal senior-year experience, makes the friendship a measure of what deportation has interrupted as well as a continuing source of connection.