Eighth-grader Evan Donnelly is resentful that he must spend the day with the new kid in town—Ricky Molina. Hurricane Leo blew through Evan’s hometown of Canaan, North Carolina, and knocked a tree limb through Ricky’s bedroom window. Evan already has plans to meet his other friends: Mitchell Worth, who struggles with obsessive-compulsive disorder; daredevil C.J. Sciutto, and Jason Brax, whose world revolves around his girlfriend, Janelle.

Evan isn’t pleased to haul Ricky with him to the secret fort the boys have constructed in the woods. When the group meets at the trailhead by the side of the road, Evan’s 16-year-old brother, Luke, drives up with his high-school dropout friend, Jaeger, the owner of a noisy red Mustang.

The older boys are curious about why the younger ones have gathered near the woods, but Ricky makes up a plausible excuse. Evan and Jaeger drive away, intent on finding any property abandoned during the storm. Evan says, “Jaeger’s all about the five-finger discount. And lately, everything Jaeger does is just great with my brother” (11).