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One of Starr’s best friends and basketball teammates at Williamson Prep, Maya acts as a bridge between Starr’s two worlds. Maya is Chinese American, witty, feisty, and devoted. Short in stature but strong and loyal, Maya hates it when her friends fight. Because they are both minorities in a primarily-white school, Maya and Starr share common ground. However, because Maya comes from a wealthy family, Starr spends a majority of the novel lumping Maya in with Hailey and the rest of her classmates, believing she must soften herself to be accepted since there’s no one at school who understands her Garden Heights experience. After Khalil’s death, Starr alienates both Maya and Hailey, her trauma revealing the preexisting cracks in their friendship dynamic. Unlike Hailey, Maya wants to salvage her friendship with Starr, and she acts as a mediator between Starr and Hailey. Maya and Starr are able to share stories, bonding over moments of hurt they have each experienced as a result of Hailey’s racism. They grow closer as they share and recognize they understand each other more than they realized, offering each other grace for the ways they tolerated and condoned racist behavior in the past, and banding together as they grow in their determination not to allow it in the future. They lean on each other as they learn how to advocate not just for themselves, but for one another.
