Nick is impressed by Coby’s strength against the Egglestons unlike Nick, Coby fights back against the boys, which turns their attention to Nick, letting Coby off the hook. Coby helps Nick prepare for an important soccer tournament in Texas, where Nick hopes he can make a name for himself.

Meanwhile, at school, Nick and his best friend, Coby Lee, who loves football and hates books just as much as Nick, are targeted by twin bullies Dean and Don Eggleston, who give them never-ending amounts of grief. When she decides to take the job, Nick’s life turns upside down-realizing that his family is no longer unified, he struggles to understand the problems that led to his parents’ separation. Nick’s mother is a horse lover, and at the beginning of the novel, she is offered a high-ranking job out of state caring for racehorses. Even though Nick absolutely hates books and reading, and would much rather spend his time playing soccer, Nick’s father regularly assigns Nick reading homework from his dictionary and obsessively tracks Nick’s academic progress. Nick writes about his family, revealing that his father is a linguistics professor and wordsmith who has written his own dictionary of uncommon but meaningful words. Later, he is caught daydreaming in class-a common occurrence. He wakes up late after spending the evening playing soccer video games late into the night and hears his parents arguing downstairs. Nick begins his story on what seems to be a normal day.

Swing by kwame alexander sparknotes