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Chapters 1-11Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Content Warning: This section of the guide includes discussion of death, addiction, substance use, child abuse, racism, and bullying.
Chapter 1 Summary
A 12-year-old boy named Jayson lives in poverty in a dilapidated apartment building known as the Pines in Moreland, North Carolina. Jayson spends all his free time practicing basketball as a means of escape. Jayson is ashamed of his poverty, which is obvious from his long, overgrown hair and worn sneakers.
Jayson recalls that his best friend, Tyrese Rice, gave him the nickname “Snap” because of his snappy speed on the court. While he loves playing basketball with Tyrese, he does not share Tyrese’s dream of playing for a college in North Carolina. Instead, he is determined to get far away from his home state and the bad memories it holds for him.
Jayson enters a Food Mart and steals a loaf of bread when the owner, Mr. Karlini, turns away. Turning back, Mr. Karlini recognizes Jayson and speaks to him kindly. Jayson plays it cool and leaves the store with the stolen loaf of bread hidden in his sweatshirt.
Chapter 2 Summary
The narrative flashes back to the start of seventh grade. Jayson’s mother, Debbie Barnes, is growing sicker due to her addiction to drugs and alcohol. She dies as the school year begins, leaving Jayson in the care of her boyfriend, Richie, who arranges an unregistered burial to avoid alerting authorities to Debbie’s death.
Jayson places one of his basketball trophies in his mother’s coffin. Soon after, Richie pays a few bills, warns Jayson to avoid foster care, and leaves town, leaving Jayson to fend for himself.
Chapter 3 Summary
At Jayson’s school, Moreland East Middle School, the basketball coach, Rankin, announces a new statewide tournament that will end at Duke University’s Cameron Indoor Stadium. Jayson feels confident about his team’s chances in the championship. In addition to the excitement of playing basketball, Jayson looks forward to competing because when he travels with the team, he has regular meals and a nice place to stay.
Coach Rankin hands out jerseys; Jayson takes number three, and Tyrese takes number four. During practice, Jayson’s aggressive skill stands out. Coach Rankin praises him but tells him to lighten up and be a happier presence on the team. Rankin also notices Jayson’s damaged shoes, which are far too small for him, but Jayson lies that his mother will buy new shoes for him soon.
Chapter 4 Summary
Jayson rides multiple buses to the upscale town of Percy. At a Foot Locker, he speaks with a clerk, De’Ron, and tries on two expensive pairs of sneakers. When a family enters, distracting the staff, Jayson walks out wearing a new pair of Nike Zooms.
Jayson walks along Main Street, hoping that no one noticed the theft. However, he is soon stopped by a Foot Locker store manager, who asks him to come back to the store. He recognizes Jayson from a basketball summer camp, and Jayson knows that he can’t escape the consequences of his actions—or Child Protective Services.
Chapter 5 Summary
At Moreland Town Hall, the police question Jayson, and then a social worker, Ms. Moretti, interviews him. Jayson explains that his mother died, her boyfriend left, and he has been living alone and stealing to survive. Overwhelmed, he cries.
Ms. Moretti orders a pizza for them and explains that Jayson must enter foster care. Jayson resents having his independence taken away and worries about his new life as a foster child. Nevertheless, Ms. Moretti secures a placement with the Lawton family and tells Jayson that she will bring him to their home that evening. Jayson considers running away but doesn’t know where he would go, so he decides to go along with Ms. Moretti’s plan for now.
Chapter 6 Summary
Ms. Moretti brings Jayson to the home of his new foster parents, Tom Lawton, a surgeon, and Carol Lawton, a retired professor. The couple lives in West Moreland, a more affluent neighborhood. Jayson (who is white) is surprised that they are Black and acts defensively, rudely questioning their kindness. However, Carol tells him that she also grew up on the town’s impoverished east side and assures him that they might have more in common than he thinks. She shows him his new room, which is spacious and beautiful. Jayson is shocked by the luxury of the Lawtons’ home and does not understand why they would want to share it with him. Carol urges him to embrace this positive change in his life but tells Jayson they will not force him to stay. He accepts the room but tells Carol to leave him alone.
Chapter 7 Summary
Jayson learns that he will attend Belmont Country Day, a private school. Carol takes him shopping for new clothes and then to his old apartment to retrieve his belongings. Jayson realizes that being the Lawtons’ foster son will turn his life upside down, and he deeply resents being separated from his friends and teammates. He bickers with Carol while they shop and feels out of place in his new school uniform. When Carol explains how she escaped the poverty of her childhood through education, Jayson feels he can relate to her, revealing that he wants to escape Moreland. However, when she tries to help unpack his trophies, Jayson snaps at her.
Tom later presents him with the same sneakers he tried to steal, but Jayson refuses the gift. He discovers a basketball court in the backyard, which the Lawtons built for their son, Isaiah; Carol mentions that Isaiah is currently “taking a little break from school” but seems reluctant to say more (46), leaving Jayson wondering about their relationship. Jayson practices there alone and briefly feels lighter.
Chapter 8 Summary
Jayson has always dreaded the start of the school year, resenting how it takes him away from the only place he really wants to be, the basketball courts. On his first day at Belmont, he feels self-conscious when his teachers ask him to introduce himself.
A friendly classmate and teammate, Bryan Campbell, introduces himself and invites Jayson to sit with him at lunch. He assures Jayson that he will not have to try out for the school’s basketball team since everyone is aware of his skills. Bryan is excited to have Jayson at the school because he believes it will really help the team.
At the lunch table, another student, Zoe Montgomery, introduces herself. Jayson lacks confidence around girls, and Zoe’s friendly interest makes him nervous. The attention and unfamiliar social scene soon overwhelm Jayson, and he abruptly leaves the cafeteria.
Chapter 9 Summary
In Belmont’s gym, the basketball coach, Rooney, welcomes Jayson to practice. In drills, Jayson easily outplays Alex Ahmad, the starting point guard. During the scrimmage, he plays with intense anger, ignoring instructions to move the ball. When Coach Rooney tries to advise Jayson, Jayson is rude and defiant.
After a perceived non-call, he elbows Cameron Speeth, the team’s center, in the face. Coach Rooney calls an offensive foul; Jayson argues with him and confronts Cameron. On the final play, he throws a pass that hits Bryan in the face and shows no remorse.
Chapter 10 Summary
After practice, Coach Rooney gives Jayson a choice: Control his anger or lose his spot on the team. He assures Jayson that he and his teammates all want him there but says that he has to be a respectful team player. Jayson acts dismissively, simply wanting the day to be over. Back at the Lawtons’ house, Carol gives Jayson a cell phone. He immediately puts in Tyrese’s number and sends him a message.
At dinner, Jayson barely speaks. When Carol tries to reassure him, he snaps, telling her and Tom to stop pretending to be his parents. He retreats to his room and calls Tyrese.
Chapter 11 Summary
Late that night, Jayson takes Isaiah’s bike to meet Tyrese at his old apartment at the Pines. Tyrese misses Jayson but encourages him to give his new situation a chance. Then Carol appears: She tracked Jayson using the phone’s GPS and now confronts him, bringing him home to her house.
The Lawtons explain their worry and warn Jayson that if he runs again, he could be sent to a group home. Jayson thinks about all the horror stories he has heard about these foster care homes and knows he does not want that to happen to him. Defeated, Jayson promises not to run and agrees to speak with Ms. Moretti regularly. The next morning, he packs the new sneakers, finally accepting them.
Chapters 1-11 Analysis
The novel’s opening chapters immerse the reader in Jayson’s internal state of desperation and fear. By describing Jayson’s routine shoplifting of food, the novel establishes his struggle for survival as his primary motivation. The third-person limited point of view provides direct access to his thoughts, which are dominated by hunger, secrecy, and a singular focus on basketball as an escape. The choice to delay discussion of the reasons for Jayson’s actions creates an immediacy that parallels Jayson’s mindset, which is necessarily focused on the present moment. Thus, it is only in Chapter 2 that a flashback details the death of his mother and Richie’s abandonment, revealing Jayson’s behavior to be the consequence of profound neglect and loss. This exposition frames Jayson’s journey through the lens of trauma, asking the reader to interpret his hostility and self-isolation as defensive mechanisms. For instance, his assertion that “the only person he could really trust was himself” is contextualized as a logical conclusion drawn from experience (3).
These chapters establish the novel’s theme of The Consequences of Anger, portraying Jayson’s rage as both a survival tool and a self-destructive impediment. On the courts at “the Jeff,” a public housing facility, his friends note that he “play[s] mad,” an edge that makes him a formidable opponent but also quick to aggression, as seen in his later confrontation with Cameron. This anger is his primary emotional outlet, a shield against the vulnerability brought on by grief and abandonment, but it also manifests as selfish play, a disregard for coaching, and physical altercations with other players. His anger is also a practical liability for the team, as it leads him to ignore his teammates, culminating in his errant pass that injures Bryan Campbell. This sequence literalizes the damage his rage inflicts, demonstrating how it alienates potential allies. By directly identifying and confronting this behavior, Coach Rooney forces Jayson to acknowledge how his anger could jeopardize his success on the court, framing it as a choice with consequences. The coach’s ultimatum—control his temper or lose his place on the team—clarifies the central conflict of Jayson’s development.
These chapters also establish the theme of The Interplay of Class and Identity. Jayson’s move from the impoverished east side to the affluent west side of Moreland forces a confrontation with his preconceived notions of race and wealth. His initial shock upon meeting the Lawtons, articulated in his statement, “You’re [B]lack,” reveals Jayson’s limited and biased worldview. That worldview, however, is a product of his environment, where Blackness was not associated with affluence. The same environment has conditioned Jayson to see the world in terms of haves and have-nots, making Carol Lawton’s revelation that she also grew up in Jayson’s neighborhood pivotal: Her words challenge his rigid categorizations and suggest that identity is not solely defined by one’s starting point. Jayson’s clothing symbolizes his internal conflict as he grapples with this idea; his worn-out sneakers are markers of his east-side identity, while the new school clothes make him feel even more alienated in his unfamiliar new environment. Even the basketball court itself becomes a symbol of this division: The cracked asphalt of the Jeff stands in opposition to the pristine, private court in the Lawtons’ backyard.
At the heart of Jayson’s crisis are the basketball sneakers, a symbol of socioeconomic aspiration and shame. His old shoes are a physical reminder of his poverty. They represent his inability to access the basic signifiers of belonging in the world of competitive youth sports. The theft of the new Nike Zooms is therefore an attempt to seize an identity he feels he lacks. Ironically, it does so, but not in the way he expects: His act triggers the collapse of his secret life and his entry into the foster care system. Though Jayson longed to escape his circumstances, he is unprepared for this turn of events, and the sneakers’ symbolism shifts accordingly: The sneakers’ reappearance as a gift from Tom Lawton transforms them from an object of desire into a symbol of his guilt and dependency. Jayson’s initial refusal of the gift is a rejection of this new, unfamiliar form of care and the new luxurious surroundings that are so alien to him. His eventual acceptance of the sneakers at the end of Chapter 11 thus marks a critical turning point, showing that Jayson understands that he can no longer survive on his own and must begin to accept the new life his theft initiated.
Underlying Jayson’s struggles is the theme of The Importance of Trust in Relationships. His experiences have conditioned him to view reliance on others as a liability, and this distrust is the primary obstacle in his relationship with the Lawtons. He consistently rebuffs Carol’s attempts at connection, interpreting her kindness as pity or an attempt to replace his mother. This is evident when he sharply rejects her help unpacking his basketball trophies, which are symbols of his earned identity that he must protect from outside influence. His decision to sneak out at night is an expression of this distrust—a flight toward the familiarity of his old friend and a rejection of the emotional vulnerability required in his new home. Carol’s subsequent warning about the alternative—a group home—presents him with an ultimatum. It forces him to recognize that his defiant independence could lead to a worse outcome, compelling him to make a choice to remain. While this tense moment does not instantly create trust between Jayson and the Lawtons, it does allow it to grow.
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