“There’s no winning arguments with your parents, so why get all pumped up over them? It is way better to dive down and get out of the way than it is to get clobbered by some parental tidal wave.”

Bryce explains how he prefers to take a passive approach in a confrontation or argument. Through indirect characterization, this line tells readers that he seeks calmness and serenity instead of dramatic battles, especially when the “winner” is obvious from the start. The line uses a metaphor, “parental tidal wave,” in connection with the idea of diving below water; this line of interior monologue connects with the chapter title, “Diving Under,” as well.

“We’d be in junior high—a big school—in different classes. It would be a world with too many people to worry about ever seeing Juli Baker again. It was finally, finally going to be over.”

These sentences serve as the chapter cap for Chapter 1 and establish precisely what Bryce hopes for once junior high begins: After five long school years of dealing with Juli, he believes he will be free of her influence in a bigger building with mixed classes and intricate scheduling. Bryce’s tone is hopeful, but the emphasis placed on his words as the last ones of his opening narrative foreshadows the opposite of what he wants.

“I know you, sweetheart. Somehow that ball will wind up in their yard and you’ll just have to go retrieve it.”

In her opening narrative, Juli recalls her excitement as an almost-second grader the day Bryce and his family moved across the street. Her mother made her stay inside for the first hour, despite Juli’s repeated requests to meet the new boy her age.