Content Warning: This section discusses bullying, violence, child abuse, and death. It also depicts a cave in and a near drowning.

Gus Foley, the novel’s first-person narrator and primary protagonist, is a 13-year-old boy who prides himself on his maturity, quick thinking, and love of vocabulary. On a hot August day in Nowhere, Arizona, Gus finds himself at the mercy of Bo Taylor, a fellow 13-year-old who frequently bullies Gus. As Bo grips Gus’s hair, he demands that Gus eat a jumping cholla, which is a cactus typical of the desert landscape. Bo is flanked by his fellow bullies, Matthew Dufort and Jacob, and Gus worries that he’ll be quickly overwhelmed.

However, a voice calls out, telling Bo to back off: It’s Rossi Scott, a girl whom Gus harbors a secret crush on. She is straddling her dirt bike, Loretta. Rossi scolds Bo, reminding him that she triumphed in their recent dirt-bike race. Bo, however, is unmoved, and he intentionally mislabels Rossi’s Tohono O’odham heritage.

Bo and Rossi continue to bicker until Bo suggests a trade. Rossi, hesitant, offers her gear and a small sum of money in exchange for Gus’s freedom.