The economic disparity between Aza and Daisy

The economic disparity between Aza Holmes and Daisy Ramirez is not simply a difference in income; it is a difference in what each has learned to regard as normal. Aza sees herself and her mother as poor, yet her braces, car, laptop, private room, and mother’s help with homework mark forms of security she scarcely notices. Daisy’s sharper awareness of those comforts turns money into a measure of how well the friends know one another—and how easily intimacy can coexist with a failure to see.