The morning of the fourth day of school, Jessie and Evan, siblings both in the fourth grade (Jessie skipped third grade) argue over cookies, finally splitting them equally. Jessie checks the lunch calendar and sees that one of Evan’s friends has added “par-tay!” to her note about Yom Kippur on Saturday, which bothers her. Evan rides to school, but Jessie does not have her bike license yet, so she walks with her mom. She worries that walking with her mom and wearing a backpack, not a slouchy mailbag, will set her apart as a “weirdo.”

The children line up to enter the classroom. Scott Spencer arrives late and pushes into the line, which irritates Jessie. Jessie overhears Scott boasting about his new Xbox 20/20; she is immediately suspicious about where he got the money to buy it. She passes a note to Evan when they sit down: “Scott Spencer got an Xbox 20/20. Where do you think he got the money for that?” (11). Evan stares at Scott suspiciously.

Evan recalls the week before. It had been a hot summer day; a group of boys from his grade were at Jack’s house. Evan had $208 in his shorts, but after he returned from swimming (he had changed out of the shorts and left them inside), the money was gone.