A Good Kind of Trouble

Through Shayla’s shift in priorities—from Jace to Black Lives Matter—and the relationship developments between Shayla, Isabella, and Julia, Ramée illustrates the arc of individual change and how it can make an impact on a larger scale. Change starts with self-awareness and an awareness of one’s surroundings and values. Once one identifies the need for change, one’s actions initiate change, even if on a small scale. This process results in personal growth as one realizes their values and develops the ability to follow through with their thoughts and words. Often, an individual’s small-scale change inspires larger, more impactful change.

Shayla struggles with her fear of displeasing or being rejected by others throughout the novel. Her character avoids anything that could make others angry, such as news about the trial of the racist police officer, the protests her sister Hana attends, and speaking up in class about racial injustice. Her insular focus is on gaining Jace’s attention, for she believes having him as a boyfriend will increase her social standing. However, once she starts seriously recording her observations and thoughts in her eyeball journal, she realizes that not only has she been mean and shallow, but her teachers and family were right in their assertions that race matters. She notices that teachers treat Bernard differently from non-Black students, and she’s shocked to learn that the police officer was found innocent despite clear incriminating video evidence. She listens to Hana about protesting and attends a rally for herself—a profound experience that gives her hope for change in racial justice. She sees the parallels between how Tyler views her and how she views Jace; both desired the other for shallow reasons. Her priorities shift to taking actions that support Black Lives Matter, and she starts wearing the armband, enacting individual change. Soon, others ask for armbands, and eventually Shayla distributes armbands on the school lawn, inciting a student rally on school grounds. The self-awareness Shayla gains from her journaling leads to personal growth in her values, and the change in focus from popularity to social justice not only gives her a sense of confidence and purpose but also spreads awareness campus-wide, showing the parallel nature of growth and change.

Shayla’s relationships with Isabella and Julia also change. Their friend group call themselves the “United Nations” to represent that race doesn’t factor into their friendship, but they soon face challenges of growth and change, race-related and otherwise. Julia is the first to break away from their threesome, finding a sense of belonging and popularity with Stacy Chin and her Asian American basketball league. Next, Shayla hides her emotions from her friends as she increasingly envies Isabella and desires Jace. Eventually, these conflicts come to a climax, and the girls find that they can relate to one another’s struggles and gain new friends; this discovery is symbolized by their uniting at lunch at the end of the novel. As the three went through their own individual growth, they also grew in their understanding of friendship and realized that gaining friends doesn’t mean losing others. The changes in their friendship dynamic spur their individual and collective growth, illustrating the inevitability of change and its correlation with growth.

Shayla spends the rising action of the novel trying to conform, which leads to isolation rather than belonging. She decides that she needs a boyfriend after a girl with “long blond hair she’s always swinging around” starts dating a boy she liked last school year (56), and Shayla wants to give “this I know look” like that girl did whenever “people would tell her that [they] made a cute couple” (56). She wants to date Jace purely so that others will be impressed with her. Her obsession with appearance—a tool for gaining others’ approval and admiration—leads to a rift with Isabella because Shayla is envious of her looks. She risks getting into trouble by wearing makeup to get Jace’s attention, wanting to look more like Isabella and Angie, girls whose beauty she idolizes. She hides her true feelings about Tyler to appease his cousin and her friends, the relay girls, which results in a fight with them once she tells Tyler the truth. Though she takes these actions to meet others’ expectations and to conform to a perceived standard of beauty, these actions distance Shayla from her friends and track team.

Once Shayla finds herself without a phone after wearing makeup to the dance, she’s forced to broaden her awareness away from her immediate social issues to larger issues such as the police shooting trial and the racism she sees firsthand. This awareness, along with her written reflections in her eyeball journal and the wisdom she gains from her family, helps her find her own priorities: taking action to support Black Lives Matter, maintaining her friendships, and improving her abilities and comradery on the track team. Internally, Shayla moves away from Jace and unkindness towards justice and kindness. Externally, Shayla shifts to expressing her values through the Black Lives Matter armband, which she initially avoids because it could make people angry. She now purposefully resists conformity, taking the risk for a cause larger than herself.

Shayla’s nonconformity helps her to more authentically connect with those around her, leading to a sense of belonging. Her first step leads her towards the silent rally with her family. Even though “there are a lot of angry faces,” Shayla “feels good to be a part of something. To belong” (209). She overcomes her greatest fear—trouble—to march with those who share her beliefs, and in not worrying about others’ reactions, she finds a place with others who feel similarly. She later bravely expresses herself through the Black Lives Matter armbands despite others’ disapproval, and this connects her to Angie and the other relay team girls. Shayla even connects with Mr. Powell, her history teacher, over his choice to wear bright scarves to express his individuality. Shayla’s character development around individuality shows that embracing oneself leads to finding genuine belonging, a more satisfying result than chasing popularity by conforming. 

Ramée explores Shayla’s relationship with and perception of authority, revealing that, sometimes, defining one’s values requires resisting authority. Shayla hates trouble, and she associates trouble with people being mad at her and with displeased authority figures. In the first chapter, Shayla cleans up after Bernard’s outburst, fearing the mess will upset her science teacher. When Coach West urges her to join the track team, she gives in to her wishes despite reservations. She feels pressure to answer Ms. Jacobs’s questions in class, and she worries about getting in trouble with Momma. In each of these situations, Shayla fears and submits to authority.

Shayla associates trouble with defying authority, but she finds that authority figures can be flawed and must sometimes be opposed. Momma avoids facing the trial, shushing Shayla when she asks too many questions and refusing to honk in support of protesters. Shayla witnesses Isabella’s mom lecturing Isabella about boys when Isabella isn’t even interested in boys. Mrs. Alvarez, an adult and therefore an authority figure, makes assumptions about her daughter based on her daughter’s age and gender rather than actions. Both mothers are flawed despite their parental authority. Principal Trask, the highest authority at Shayla’s school, displays her racial bias by asking Shayla to remove her Black Panther costume, by singling out Bernard and other Black students for punishment, and by banning the Black Lives Matter armbands. Two police officers, the authority figures of society, shoot innocent Black people. These situations reveal to Shayla that authority is fallible.

These authority figures’ flaws contradict Shayla’s values of fair treatment, so Shayla finds that preserving her morals sometimes requires defying authority. She wears a Black Lives Matter armband to school even though Principal Trask explicitly forbids them, because Shayla wants to protest the unjust acquittal of the murderous police officer. After deciding she will “go down big” (325) by distributing the bag of armbands, Shayla hides her intentions from Momma, knowingly breaking her expectation of honesty. She rouses a Black Lives Matter rally at school by distributing armbands and chanting on the school lawn even though Principal Trask made clear her disapproval of racial justice protests. To Shayla’s surprise, Momma defends Shayla against Principal Trask, also defying authority. They prevail over Principal Trask’s unfair censorship, knowing they were justified by the dress code and the armband’s message. Shayla finds that “walking right into trouble [makes her] feel strong” (337), demonstrating how, sometimes, defying authority is a moral imperative.