Pranks are a recurring motif within the text that illustrate Chet’s fraught path to belonging and forming lasting relationships in Elm Hills. Chet strongly desires to make friends with three classmates, Sid, Dewey, and Monty, but he struggles to trust the connections. When the boys play a prank on him at the creek, staging a shark attack, Chat feels humiliated and blames himself: “How could he have thought these guys wanted to be his friends? They just wanted someone to pick on. That was the only reason they’d invited him to the creek” (30-31). Chet begins to run away, and the boys try to convince him that the prank was harmless. Chet ignores them, too embarrassed to turn around.

Uncle Jerry tries to explain and excuse the boys’ behavior as an example of the boys’ interest in befriending Chet: “It means they like you, that you’re one of them [...] Now they’re expecting you to get them back” (33). This advice is well-meaning but misguided, as it inspires Chet to play his own prank. Taking his uncle’s advice to heart, Chet thinks that pranking his friends must be the only way to secure his place in their group.