LT's first person narrative of his freshman year reveals a bright boy frustrated by his inability to read. He often feels like a foreigner in the academic realm of high school but faces its demands with humor and resolve. His dogged willpower and affection for his parents help him persist despite disappointing grades and an uncertain future. His secret desire is to be a writer. Stewart is a freshman like LT. He's an amazing artist but a very odd boy who says little, wears too small clothes, has questionable hygiene, and signs in his own language. In journals he begins at the end of fourth grade, he discloses his deepest secrets about himself, his mother's drug addiction, and his grandfather. He works with LT in Art. Nick is a senior with behavior problems. His parents work hard to grow their business when he is young and often leave him on his own. They give up trying to manage him when he's in seventh grade. At loose ends, he moves deeper into the drug dealing culture, and not knowing what he'll do after graduation, his behavior becomes increasingly erratic. Because he needs the credit, he ends up in freshman World History with LT and Stewart. This is where the lives of the three boys become forever entwined.