Researchers in the field of composition studies have spent a great deal of time, energy, and scholarship proposing and debating strategies for collaborative pedagogy. While these discussions can be generative, many overlook what should have been central all along: the student collaborators. With this in mind, this essay seeks to focus our attention on student collaborators within writing classrooms and the ways in which their identities and experiences impact their collaborations. Specifically, in this essay, a composition instructor puts her troubled experiences with collaboration in conversation with the concept of figured worlds to offer a pedagogical heuristic for developing effective, student-centered collaborative pedagogy.