Chapter 1, Monday, July 6th Summary

The first chapter begins with fonts and text styles that resemble a movie script, followed by text that resembles the opening credits and scrolling story introduction of the movie Star Wars. The opening scene is of Steve's prison cell, and the reader learns that he is sixteen-years-old. The scene moves from the cell to breakfast in the Manhattan Detention Center with other prisoners, to the interior of a Corrections Department van, and then to the courthouse.

After Steve meets his lawyer, Kathy O'Brien, they have a brief conversation in a small room used for this purpose before moving to the holding room, where Steve is handcuffed to a U-bolt mounted on the bench. A guard speaks briefly to him in a sarcastic manner. The scene then shifts to the courtroom itself. A typical first hearing ensues, and...