The novel opens at Steven’s eighth-grade graduation, where he is thinking about how much his life has changed in the last ten months. The story then goes back in time to the beginning of the school year, when Steven is writing in his journal for English class on the topic, “the most annoying thing in the world” (1). Steven can’t focus on the prompt because he is distracted by Renee Albert, “the hottest girl in school,” who is sitting right in front of him. He starts to make a list of things that annoy him, including “journal assignments,” “hot girls who never look at skinny geeks,” and “being a skinny geek named Steven” (2), until he realizes that to him, “the most annoying thing in the world” is his five-year-old brother, Jeffrey (2-3). In his journal, Steven explains that he resents Jeffrey for taking his place as the only child in the household and for demanding so much attention from him and his parents. Although Jeffrey worships his older brother, Steven is annoyed by the way Jeffrey constantly follows him around and destroys his possessions. As an example, he tells the story of “the ‘Dangerous Pie’ incident” (5).