The Beginning of Everything

It is Friday and Luke, Phoebe, and Austin are already at the break table when Ezra arrives. Luke mentions that Jimmy is having a “kegger” that night, and Phoebe jokes, “Ezra, you’re taking me to Jimmy’s party, right?” and laughing because the party is for Tier One people only (80). Toby, Sam, and Cassidy join the table, and the friendly banter continues until the bell rings and everyone drifts off to their classes. Cassidy and Ezra both have English, so they walk to class together. Ezra sits in front of Luke, who makes snide remarks about Ezra’s answers, reinforcing Ezra’s impression that Luke does not like him. When Luke passes Ezra back his work, there is a folded piece of paper attached; Ezra slips it into his pocket.

At lunch, the friends regroup at their table. Toby tells Cassidy and Ezra that Ms. Weng wants to see them. Ms. Weng puts down the leftovers she’s eating and greets Ezra and Cassidy warmly, referring to them as the “two new recruits” (84). Ezra suddenly remembers the signup sheet for the debate tournament and tries to explain the mistake, but Ms. Weng is too focused on detailing the tournament and telling them how wonderful it is to have Cassidy on the team to let Ezra talk or to notice how pale Cassidy is. Ms. Weng has already registered them and booked transportation. Horrified, Ezra realizes that they cannot pull out. As soon as they leave, Cassidy erupts in anger, wrongly assuming that Ms. Weng signed her up. Sheepishly, Ezra tells Cassidy that he signed her up as a joke—revenge for the Spanish class discussion. Cassidy is furious and lets Ezra know that he should have respected her wishes about not competing in debate, as she accepts that he can’t compete in tennis: “Just because I don't limp around with a freaking cane doesn’t mean I have to explain myself to people I’ve known for five seconds for quitting. So screw you for signing me up for this because you thought it would be funny” (87). The bell rings before Ezra can go back and explain to Ms. Weng, so he heads to Spanish class, feeling terrible.

Ezra spends Friday afternoon in his room with Cooper doing homework and playing guitar, trying to distract himself from thoughts of Cassidy. Ezra’s mother keeps checking in on him, so when Ezra gets a message from Toby asking if he wants to come over, he jumps at the offer. Driving over to Toby’s house, Ezra imagines what everyone else from school is doing: Jimmy’s kegger pool party or the outdoor mall Prism Center with its IMAX cinema, and that is all he can think of to do in Eastwood. Ezra hasn’t been to Toby’s house since he learned to drive; he used to ride his bike over. Ezra reminisces about the years he and Toby were inseparable, when Toby would come up with fun, elaborate money-making schemes and adventures. Ezra thinks about how Toby has grown into an “unabashedly nerdy, quick-witted guy,” whereas he feels that he has grown into a “massive douche—with a cane” (91).

In Toby’s room, Ezra notices the stacks of comics that he and Toby made years ago. Superhero Academy, created by Toby Ellicott & Ezra Faulkner. Ezra notices some new, computer-generated comics that Toby created after he and Ezra drifted apart and in which Toby turned Ezra’s character evil. After a tense discussion about the comics, Toby changes the subject and asks Ezra whether they are going to Luke’s screening at “The Floating Movie Theater” (93). Ezra’s invite was the slip of paper Luke passed to him in class. They go to the high school in Toby’s old minivan, called the “Fail Whale.”

Toby explains that the floating movie theater is a secret screening of films, never held in the same place twice. Luke inherited the keys to Eastwood High from his brother, who stole them from the janitor. Using the keys, the group holds screenings in the school and leaves gifts for the teachers. Toby describes it as “secret screenings, coded invitations, positive vandalism” (97). Examples of previous movies include The Princess Bride, shown in the library, where they donated a box of books. This Friday they watch Rushmore in the teacher’s lounge, leaving boxes of coffee filters as a gift. Ezra notices that Cassidy seems sad throughout the movie, despite its being a comedy. Afterward Cassidy enthuses over the movie and tells Ezra that she wants to teach him everything she knows about debate so they can win the San Diego tournament, acting as though nothing happened earlier outside Ms. Weng’s office. Slightly confused, Ezra accepts her explanation that she is “over it” when he asks if she is still mad at him.

Teacher Development Day is a day off school. The debate crew invites Ezra and Cassidy to tag along to see a show in LA, but Cassidy says they already have plans. Sam teases them, asking if they are going “gleaning.” After the laughter dies down, Toby explains to Cassidy that gleaning is salvaging leftover vegetables from the fields, and that gleaning is their school’s field trip. This stuns Cassidy, who comes from a school where the field trips are to museums. Cassidy tells Ezra to pick her up at 8:30 a.m. so they can start his debate training.

The following morning, Cassidy tells Ezra to drive to the University of California Eastwood. Cassidy’s plan is to crash some university classes. She even has a class schedule, starting with the “History of the British Empire” (106). Ezra worries that they’ll get caught, but Cassidy explains that she used to do this with Owen when he was at Yale. After the first lecture, Cassidy and Ezra accidentally find themselves in organic chemistry. Ezra, to his surprise, is fascinated by the lecture, understanding the theory behind enantiomers—identical but non-superimposable molecules. He walks out of the lecture with his “mind racing,” reveling in the excitement of learning something new and interesting and realizing that maybe college is something to seriously consider, possibly as a chemistry major.

After their last crashed lecture, Cassidy and Ezra eat sandwiches together on the grass by a shady creek. Ezra notices other couples enjoying picnics and wonders whether he and Cassidy are becoming a couple too. Cassidy makes a crown out of flowers that she puts on Ezra’s head. Their faces are close together, but Ezra is not sure what Cassidy wants. Cassidy asks Ezra where he is applying to college and seems disappointed with his unenthusiastic answer about local state schools, but she blushes when Ezra points out that he obviously isn’t going to be recruited for tennis anymore. When he says he probably wouldn’t fit in at an academic school, Cassidy mocks him: “You'd prefer to fit in with the brainless jocks who win high school popularity contests and the vapid girls who worship them” (112). Ezra counters that he no longer seems to fit in with them either. They are sitting close enough for Ezra to kiss Cassidy, but instead he tells her about his life since the accident. He shares that the first surgeries didn’t work, that none of his “friends” visited him in hospital, that he missed all the social events of junior year, and that he was told he’d never play sports again. The worst part, he explains, is that at school he didn’t know who he was anymore or who he wanted to be. Cassidy gently kisses Ezra’s cheek, and they sit together silently. Eventually, Cassidy shares a line from a poem that she uses to remind herself to embrace life, without worrying about the past or future: “Tell me, what is it you plan to do/With your one wild and precious life?” (114). The mood lightens as they joke about Ezra’s options for his one life.