PE

Over the summer, Maya and Anna spend their summer vacation sequestered in their bedrooms, obsessively studying magazines like J-14 or analyzing Sarah Michelle Gellar on covers. They treat the summer as an incubation period to transform their looks. The most prevalent rumors of the summer involve fictional romantic milestones. Girls and boys return to school claiming they met older teenagers at summer camps, public pools, or family vacations. They spread rumors about themselves "hooking up" or reaching "second base" to artificially boost their popularity before day one. Rumors swirl fiercely about who got their period over the summer. Having a menstrual cycle is weaponized as the ultimate dividing line between the "mature" popular girls (like Heather and Becca) and the "childish" outcasts. Maya and Anna find themselves navigating a school environment where rumors dictate that if you didn't hit this milestone over the break, you are socially left behind. The most devastating rumor brewing over the summer break is the foundation for the "UGIS" (Ugliest Girl in School) label. While Brandt and Dustin formalize the rumor on the first day of school, the gossip stems from tracking everyone's physical changes over the hot summer months. Because Maya didn't experience the idealized "glow up" that the popular girls achieved, she is immediately targeted by the boys' performative pack mentality.