“Before Ma, Pa had three sons from another woman. But I don’t even know what they look like. I pictured them stopping bullies from bullying me. I pictured them giving me money when I wanted candy. I pictured them teaching me boy stuff Pa didn’t.”

Bryan, the novel’s sixth-grade narrator, lacks strong male role models, and this leaves him feeling somewhat unprotected and deprived as he enters middle school. His father, who has been in and out of jail and has no contact with his other sons, mostly ignores him, and his mother discourages him from having friends. This lack of male guidance and companionship introduces the main conflict of the story, which leads to Bryan’s involvement with Mike.

“‘Focus on school,’ Ma always tells me. ‘There will be friends later. The wrong friends bring drama, and I don’t want them rubbing off on you.’”

Bryan’s mother, aware of the temptations of the street and the danger of bad influences, wants her son to hold true to a life of strong integrity and morals. She encourages him to build good scholastic habits and discourages him from making friends who could pull him in the wrong direction. “Drama,” a word used frequently in Maldonado’s book, refers to both trouble and conflict and represents a recurring problem for the family, mostly due to the violent tendencies of Bryan’s father. However, this tight control over Bryan’s social life is also a source of conflict with his mother, who is otherwise the most important, nurturing figure in his life.