Steven ("Steve") Richard York

When the novel opens, Steven York is a gifted nineteen-year-old high school senior who is struggling to graduate from Wakefield High School. Steve is the narrator of the novel, the meta-fictional author of a report that forms about one-half of the novel's contents, and the principle protagonist of the novel. Steve's middle name is in honor of President Richard Nixon. Steve scored highly on his SAT test and excelled at academia through the mid-point of his junior year; in the last part of his junior year and throughout his senior year he turns to drugs and his grades drop from As to Cs and Fs.

Steve was born in 1975 but his father deliberately held him back in school one year so that he would be capable of outstanding athletic performance within his grade. The strategy failed, as Steve does not enjoy organized sports...