Little Fires Everywhere

Pearl writes Lexie’s admission essay. As gratitude for Pearl’s service, Lexie takes her to Stacie Perry’s Halloween party where all the popular students are. At the party, Lexie abandons Pearl to have sex for the first time with her boyfriend, Brian. Left without a ride home and unable to find anyone else at the party, Pearl calls Moody for a ride. When Moody arrives in his family’s car, he is bitter that Pearl has chosen to befriend his other siblings over him. He drops Pearl off at her home. She is received by Mia, who is angry that her daughter has come home later than promised and smelling of alcohol. Mia sends Pearl off to bed in fury.

The next day, Mrs. Richardson stops by to check in on Mia. Mrs. Richardson seems convinced that Mia needs financial support and suggests that she work for her as a part-time housekeeper. Mia is reluctant at first but realizes that it could be an opportunity to keep her eye on Pearl when she is at the Richardsons’ house. She accepts Mrs. Richardson’s offer.

Mia starts her housecleaning duties at the Richardsons’ house. One day, Izzy is suspended from school and is left alone with Mia at the house. While Izzy has refused to share the details about her suspension with anyone, she warms up to Mia, who shows her kindness and interest. Izzy reveals that she was suspended because she stood up to the alcoholic orchestra teacher, Mrs. Peters, who was making racist remarks to a black student, Deja. Outraged, Izzy took Mrs. Peters’s violin bow and snapped it in half. Mia responds to Izzy’s sharing by asking, “‘What are you going to do about it?’” (79).

The question inspires Izzy to take revenge on Mrs. Peters. She plans on throwing toilet paper at Mrs. Peters’s house but is intercepted by Moody and Pearl, who caution her that she will be found out very easily. Overhearing this conversation, Mia relays a story about a revenge plot she heard about involving putting glue in teachers’ doors. Pearl is embarrassed by her mother’s interjection, but this gives Izzy an idea. She recruits Moody’s and Pearl’s help to put toothpicks in every classroom door of the school. This delays the school opening, as someone has to use tweezers to slowly take broken toothpicks out of every door. Mrs. Peters, who typically drinks a lot of coffee in the mornings to cover her alcoholic hangover, is one of the last teachers to have their doors opened. After drinking so much coffee, she has to use the bathroom, but the faculty lounge restroom is still locked. Unable to hold it in, she rushes to the girls’ bathroom, where many of the students have gathered. She urinates on herself while the students watch in shock and amusement.

After Izzy’s prank, she asks Mia to take her on as an art assistant. Mia agrees, seeing how desperate Izzy is for mentorship.

One day, Moody and Pearl’s modern European history class goes on a field trip to the local art museum. While there, they discover a photograph of Mia with a newborn Pearl in her arms by the artist Pauline Hawthorne. After school, Moody and Pearl convince Lexie to drive them back to the art museum to examine the photograph more closely. Izzy comes along. Lexie confirms that the photograph is of Mia. They all return to Pearl’s home where Mia is waiting. Pearl asks Mia about the photograph. When Mia denies knowing anything about it, Pearl realizes that it is likely a private matter and she should not have asked her mother in front of everyone. Mia changes the subject, and the question of the photograph’s origins remain unanswered.

Izzy enlists her mother’s help as a reporter to find out more about the photograph. Mrs. Richardson finds out that an art gallery has lent the photograph to the museum and that the photograph was purchased in 1982 from a dealer in New York. She finds the name and contact number of the art dealer, Anita Rees, and asks her who sold the photograph after Pauline’s death in 1982. Anita suddenly becomes cold and ends the conversation abruptly. Annoyed at reaching a dead end, Mrs. Richardson abandons further research into the matter.