Rafe Khatchadorian, a sixth-grader at HVMS, is the first-person narrator and protagonist of the story. He wants readers to know immediately that his only friend is Leo. Though he ascribes the characteristic to Leo, Rafe is a compulsive artist who translates all his emotions, frustrations, relationships, and desires into drawings. Rafe suffers from extremely low self-esteem, and many events in his life, such as his grades and disappointing relationships, confirm the unworthiness he feels.

Readers may recognize that a lot is going on below the surface with Rafe. His mother’s frequent questions about him talking to Leo indicate that this has been an issue before, though the authors do not explain how or why. Rafe does not mention his father, a rarity even in a mid-grade book with a single-parent family configuration. When Rafe believes his mother has betrayed him by turning him over to Bear’s supervision, he remarks that he thought she was the one he could depend on. This also speaks to unexpressed past events.

For a person primarily known in the narrative for his misbehavior, Rafe actually possesses a high moral character. He finds the school’s code of conduct ridiculously offensive.