Noah Sweetwine is chased by Zephyr and Fry, two older boys from the neighborhood who regularly bully him. They catch him and go through his sketchbook, which is filled with sketches of Michelangelo’s David, Noah’s twin sister Jude, and drawings of Zephyr and Fry as well, which Noah drew while spying on them as they surfed. Noah worries that if Zephyr and Fry see the latter, they will beat Noah up. Fry begins to rip up Noah’s sketches, but Zephyr stops him when they reach the sketches of Jude. Noah suspects that it is because Zephyr has a crush on Jude and is relieved that the boys do not flip further. Zephyr and Fry prepare to throw Noah over Devil’s Drop, the second-highest jump on the hill overlooking the sea. Noah is terrified of drowning and dying and begins to thrash about, preventing the boys from getting a good grip on him. In the process, he develops an erection, and Zephyr drops Noah as soon as he realizes this. However, Zephyr does not call Noah out on it, leaving with Fry instead. Noah runs away to a cave near a creek where he proceeds to black out whole, blank pages of sketchbook using his charcoals, titling them “(A SERIES: Boy Inside a Box of Darkness)” (7) in his head.