Chapter 1 Summary

Stella is in drama class, where the teacher, Mr. Nichols, has the students pretending to toss their beach balls around on the beach. Stella is tired and fed up and so she tries to hide. When Mr. Nichols asks her why she's hiding behind a "sand dune" and orders her to start tossing her ball again, Stella refuses. Mr. Nichols sends Stella to the principal's office, even though she never gets into trouble.

Mr. Frankel, the principal, is surprised to see Stella waiting outside of his office. Mr. Frankel mentions that Stella only has a couple of weeks until graduation and notices in her file that she's going to Princeton. He says he thinks this has more to do than throwing a ball. Stella thinks about how she's going to Princeton because it is the end to a logical equation and she says...