Summary

As the story opens in Chapter 1, Ezra Faulkner and his best friend, Toby Ellicott, are celebrating Toby's twelfth birthday. They are students at Westlake Middle School. Toby's mother has insisted he invite some friends and that they go to Disneyland, just a few minutes from their home town of Eastwood, California. Their first ride is Thunder Mountain Railroad, a roller coaster. Toby and Ezra sit in the back. A boy in front of Toby stands up as the ride is entering a tunnel, and is decapitated. Toby literally catches the head and has no choice but to hold it until the ride comes to a stop. Ezra says this is Toby's personal tragedy. After this event, Toby becomes something of an outcast.

Ezra's athletic ability soon appears and he begins spending time with others on his tennis team. By the time they are...