Natasha Kingsley

**Natasha Katherine Kingsley** is the protagonist of *The Sun Is Also a Star*. Natasha is a Jamaican-American girl whose family faces deportation upon her father revealing the family's expired visas to a police officer after being caught driving drunk. On her final day in New York City before having to fly back to Jamaica, Natasha makes one final attempt to delay the deportation, during which she meets Daniel.

## Biography

### Early Life

Natasha was born in Jamaica, but moved to New York City when she was very young, eight years old, where she would live for nine years.

When Natasha was nine her mother gave birth to her brother Peter.

## Natasha Kingsley

### Relatives

Samuel Kingsley (father)
Patricia Kingsley (mother)
Peter Kingsley (younger brother)

### Affiliates

Bev (best friend)
Daniel (love interest)
Rob (ex-boyfriend)

## Physical description

### Other significant traits

Large afro

Earlier in High school, Natasha once dated a guy named Rob.

 Natasha's father first came to NY to pursue his acting career; whom she deemed the white-ven *A Raisin in the Sun*; Natasha admits that her father's performance was "transcendent." After the play's end, Natasha's father was found drunk driving, during which he told the officer about the family's expired visas. When Natasha's father returned home and was confronted by her mother, Natasha overheard his claim that he wished he never met his wife, nor had. Overhearing such an exchange ignited Natasha with a disdain for her father.

#### Last day in New York City

On her last day in New York City, Natasha attempts to get the deportation of her family lifted one last time. An encounter with the guard at the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services. Irene causes her to miss her original appointment, although gets one with a man named Lester Barnes instead who directs her to a lawyer named Jeremy Fitzgerald. After calling Attorney Fitzgerald's office, Natasha gets booked for an appointment at 11:01 A.M. Since it is only eight o'clock when the appointment is booked and the office is uptown, Natasha decides to stop by her favorite record store.

On her way to the record store, Second Coming, Natasha becomes lost in the song she is listening to, "Hunger Strike" by Temple of the Dog, unknowingly catching the eye of Daniel; who is watching her dance and sing to herself on the sidewalk, he then proceeds to follow her. Once at the record store, Natasha is disturbed to find her ex-boyfriend, Rob, making out with his girlfriend, Kelly, the very girl with whom Rob cheated on Natasha with. As Natasha watches the scene in disgust, Natasha notices Kelly shoplifting. Upon expressing her disbelief at the entirety of the scene, she is accompanied by Daniel, with whom she has a short exchange, which ends in Kelly getting in trouble with the store's staff. Despite believing Daniel to be attractive and kind, Natasha ultimately deems him a waste of her time and leaves the store and him behind.

While about to cross the street, Natasha does not see a car swerving toward her, she is then knocked out of the way by Daniel; saving her life but also breaking her headphones. Natasha agrees to get coffee with Daniel as repayment during which, much to her dismay, she learns that Daniel is a budding poet. Natasha heavily dislikes poets; thinks they could be doing something more efficient. At the coffee shop, Daniel decides to whip out his phone so he could ask some questions to get closer to her and make her fall in love. Once asked what she would do with a time-machine, Natasha spirals into talk of the logistics behind time travel as opposed to providing her real answer; if she had a time machine, Natasha would make it so that the greatest day of her father's life, the day of the play, never happened. Understanding that falling in love with Daniel would be nonsensical given the circumstances, Natasha warns Daniel not to fall in love with her but is told that Daniel has a scientific method to woo her.

Natasha allows Daniel to tag along with her to her appointment, during which she begins to bond with Daniel via questions from his experiment, but still rejects the idea/concept of falling in love. Once at the office, Natasha says goodbye to Daniel, which then surprises her by feeling as though she was losing something (big). Natasha speaks to the paralegal at the office's front desk who informs her that her appointment must be moved to 3:30 P.M., as Fitzgerald was in a car accident. Despite this bleak news, the paralegal assures her that she thinks she will be okay. Natasha realizes, with this uncharacteristic feeling of hope that swells inside of her, that she wants to speak to Daniel. Natasha finds Daniel, who postponed his interview to spend more time with her. Natasha tags along with Daniel to his parents' black hair store in Harlem. Natasha is immediately met with snide remarks from Daniel's older brother and, later, his father tries to sell Natasha a hair taming solution. Despite the tense situation and Daniel's profuse apologies upon exiting the store, Natasha can't help but find hilarity in the situation.

Natasha accompanies Daniel to a Korean restaurant, where Natasha eats and thoroughly enjoys the food. Then, despite being a terrible singer, Natasha agrees to partake in a karaoke dance. After singing, quite terribly, she is kissed by Daniel and she kisses him back, which is when both of them realize the extent of their attraction to each other. Natasha comes to realize that there is a possibility of her falling in love with Daniel.

Natasha ultimately reveals to Daniel that she and her family are being deported and that she will be gone the next day, resulting in an argument with Daniel. Natasha leaves Daniel behind for the legal office. Natasha describes the events leading to her family's abduction to Attorney Fitzgerald who tells Natasha he will see a judge he is friendly within the hopes of getting her Voluntary Removal reversed so she and her family at least don't have to leave that night. Natasha is ignited with hope, which she feels "fluttering her heart."

Natasha calls Rob and asks him why he cheated on her. Rob reveals that both she and Kelly are great and that he didn't want to hurt either of their feelings, but wanted both of them. Despite the ridiculous statement, Natasha notices that Rob's words are sincere. Before hanging up, Natasha asks Rob if he believes in true love; Rob says that he doesn't and neither does she, but Natasha does not feel so sure anymore. Natasha decides she needs to find Daniel as, although she doesn't believe in true love, she might want to.

Natasha returns to Daniel's parents' store where he finds Charlie, whose eye is red and swollen and whose knuckle is bruised. While conversing with Charlie, Natasha realizes that Charlie despises Daniel because Daniel doesn't hate himself like he does and feels sorry for him. Natasha asks Charlie for Daniel's phone number which she persuades him to give, as her relationship with Daniel would make Charlie the favorite son again. Despite getting Daniel's number, Natasha realizes that Charlie truly is not a good person.

Natasha calls Daniel and discovers he was looking for her at the lawyer's office. Natasha accepts the apology that Daniel provides and returns to the office. Natasha sees Daniel's swollen lip and realizes he fought with Charlie about her. With some prodding, Natasha tells Charlie that the lawyer believes he can figure something out for she and her family. Knowing that the entire chain of events that occurred was caused by the security guard who delayed her, Natasha calls Lester Barnes and asks him to thank Irene, unknowingly stopping her from committing suicide.

Since Daniel's interview is in the same building, Natasha accompanies him to the roof where they encounter the lobby's security guard who she and Daniel manage to convince to let them onto the roof, although not after Natasha implores the guard to quit smoking. On the roof, Natasha kisses Daniel and spends as much time as she can with him talking. When it is time for Daniel's interview, Natasha leaves the building and waits for Daniel to finish. When Daniel returns, Natasha notices how upset he is; it is revealed that Fitzgerald, who was Daniel's interviewer, was unable to have the Voluntary Removal reversed, meaning that Natasha and her family will be deported after all. With this news, Natasha realizes that she has to go home to prepare for her 10:00 P.M. flight. Daniel agrees to accompany her home and to the airport. While on the train, Natasha talks to Daniel about Jamaica, then reveals that Rob said he cheated on her because he wanted both she and Kelly, which upsets Daniel. Natasha is asked if her parents cared that Rob is white; although her parents never met Rob, Natasha admits that she thinks her parents would prefer her to marry a black guy. When Natasha exits the train and re-enters the city, she realizes that she will compare every skyline to New York City's and every boy to Daniel.

While walking with Daniel, hand-in-hand, Natasha notices the stares she and he receive, which Daniel dubs a result of either he not being black or she not being Korean. Natasha genuinely wants to know why others care so much, but is told that it shouldn't matter as love is enough to overcome it. Natasha leads Daniel to her home, where she ultimately tells her family that Daniel is her boyfriend. Natasha's father inquires if what she has been doing all day as opposed to packing up is running around with Daniel, but Natasha assures her father she was attempting to fix his mistakes. She tells him how she overheard him call the family his biggest regret, for which he tearfully apologizes. Natasha implores her father to at least try being better to her mom and getting himself an acting career when they move to Jamaica, which he promises to do.

Natasha trails behind her family to the airport in a cab with Daniel. Natasha asks Daniel if he believes they would have worked out in the end, which both she and Daniel agree to. Natasha fantasizes about what their wedding would have been like, upon Daniel claiming that his parents wouldn't have come. Natasha finally tells Daniel she loves him. After staring into Daniel's eyes as the final part of Daniel's experiment, Natasha kisses Daniel. Natasha boards the plane and, on her flight, wonders if she will ever find her way back to Daniel.

### Life in Jamaica

Natasha tries to keep in touch with Daniel in Jamaica but eventually drifts apart from him.

Natasha slowly comes to love Jamaica. She enrolls in a school in Kingston, starts waitressing to help her family, and eventually gains an accent. Five years after moving to Jamaica, Natasha's mother falls ill, and after a while, succumbs to her illness.

As the years continue to pass, Natasha sometimes wonders about that day in New York City, and almost becomes certain that she imagined the magic and love she felt. It is that day, though, that inspired Natasha to find her passion, which lies in physics.

### Ten (10) years later

On a plane ride, Natasha is approached by Irene, who tells her she saved her life. Natasha tells Irene her name and assures her that she remembers her, drawing the attention of a young man sitting in 7A who calls her name. Recognizing the man as none other than Daniel, Natasha says his name in response. It's described as "time falling back into place".

## Description

### Personality

Natasha is an extremely practical and logical individual who believes in nothing that cannot be proven with science. Natasha, at the beginning of the book, is against the concept of love (especially love at first sight), but comes around after encountering Daniel and hearing his point of view. Natasha is gifted academically in science, particularly physics.

### Appearance

Natasha has brown skin, black eyes, and a large curly afro which she dyes the ends of pink at age twenty-seven. Natasha, according to Daniel, has great legs

## Trivia

* Until persuaded to pursue her passion by Daniel, Natasha strives to be a data scientist.
* Why does the author bring Elissa into the story?