When Mark arrives at Hardy Elementary, Mr. Maxwell observes his new student and quickly dismisses him as a “lazy” troublemaker after just three days. Mark seems uninterested in class and projects a sullen attitude despite his intelligence. Mr. Maxwell thinks he’s already seen Mark’s type countless times. When Mr. Maxwell asks another teacher about Mark, she tells him that Mark is the son of the family who bought, refurbished, and expanded the old farmhouse known as “the Fawcett place” (24). She describes how the property cost about $2 million to purchase and another million to renovate. Mr. Maxwell’s opinion of Mark suddenly worsens, as his environmental stance conflicts with the wealthier classes whose members often overconsume resources, and he decides that Mark is “lazy [and] spoiled” (25).

Like Mr. Maxwell’s early judgments of Mark, Mark also makes a snap judgment and decides that Hardy Elementary is a dismal excuse for a school. He therefore refuses to engage in any way. Hardy Elementary is the first public school he has attended after a long series of private schools. However, Mark does enjoy the small-town quiet and relishes the fact that his class size is big enough to allow him to hide in the shadows.