This chapter introduces us to the narrator, Dean Grieder, a junior at Lewis Palmer High School in Monument, Colorado. One morning, Dean and his younger brother, Alex, race to catch their busses, Dean to the high-school bus and Alex to the middle-elementary bus. 

On the high-school bus, Dean notices Jake Simonsen “football hero and all-around champion of the popular” and his crush Astrid Heyman, “champion diver on the swim team, scornful goddess, girl of my dreams” (2, 3). No one acknowledges Dean, except for Niko Mills, a boy who is rumored to live with his grandfather in a cabin in the foothills.

Soon, Dean hears, “this little tink, tink, tink sound […] the tinks were like rain, only metallic” (4). Hail comes down, the bus skids on the ice, and flips on its side. The high school bus driver and another student, Trish, die, while the other students duck for cover to avoid the hail that is now coming through the windows. Josie is injured by the hail, but Niko grabs her and drags her to cover under the seat. The bus catches fire and smoke circulates.