Jeremy sits in math class at Middle Borough High School in the town of Metuchen, New Jersey. He overhears Jenna Rolan, “the Coolest girl in class” (3), gossiping with her friend Anne about someone named Elizabeth. Jenna is making fun of Elizabeth, claiming that she is a “slut.” The teacher, Mr. Gretch, begins the roll call, and students respond to their last names by saying “here.” However, Jeremy’s last name is “Heere,” a homophone of “here,” so he responds with “present” instead (5). Jeremy thinks that he hears someone snicker at that, so he adds a tally mark to his daily Humiliation Sheet.

Jeremy explains that he uses a system called Humiliation Sheets to “keep track of my social status in a concrete, quantitative way” (6). Whenever another student laughs at him, makes an insulting comment about him, refuses to acknowledge him, or socially rejects him in another way, he records a tally mark on one of the sheets. As the math lesson begins, Jeremy continues to eavesdrop on Jenna and Anne while observing the other students in the room. He watches his crush, a girl named Christine Caniglia, but then he overhears Jenna and Anne referring to him as her stalker.