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Mark's parents kill each other
Mark’s parents killed each other in a drunken fight when he was younger -
Mark moves in with Bryon's family
Mark moves in after the devastating death of both his parents. He and Bryon are really close at this time and enjoy each other's company. -
They break the law together
Mark is a notorious thief who is on probation for hotwiring cars, while Bryon is a perpetual liar who hustles people at pool. One night, Bryon and Mark sneak into Charlie’s bar despite being underage. They plan to make some money playing pool, but there is no one to hustle. Charlie, the bartender and owner, warns them that they could get in trouble for hustling. He also says that they have run up a $3 tab, and that if they don’t pay by the next day, he’s going to beat them up. -
They meet M&M, an important character in the book
They run into their 13-year-old friend M&M. Bryon describes M&M as serious, intelligent, very trusting, and a little strange. But when they part ways, Bryon and Mark observe three guys—including their classmate, Curly Shepard—trailing M&M. Their classmates start to mug M&M, but Mark and Bryon attack the three boys, warding them off. Mark is also able to pickpocket the $3 they owe Charlie from the attackers. -
Bryon meets M&M's older sister, Cathy.
Bryon and Mark visit Bryon’s mother in the hospital where she’s recovering following an operation. She asks the boys to go visit a kid across the hall who hasn’t had any visitors. Bryon first goes down to get a burger and meets Cathy, M&M’s older sister who is working in the snack bar. She has just returned home from private school, and Bryon is immediately smitten with her. -
Mark gets into a fight
Bryon's ex-girlfriend, Angela, convinced a kid to attack a boy for rejecting her, but when Mark stepped in, the kid hit him over the head with a bottle. Mark now has a deep gash in his head, and Bryon stays with him in the ambulance and the hospital while he gets stitches. At home, Mark expresses how glad he is that Bryon was there to calm him down, and that he feels that Bryon is really his brother. Bryon says he feels the same way. -
Mark steals their pincipal's car
One day, Bryon hears that Mark got in trouble for stealing the principal’s car so he could drive to his appointment with his probation officer. Bryon is furious, but when he hears Mark was able to talk his way out of punishment, Bryon says angrily that as long as Mark got away with what he did, it’s fine. Mark would have gotten a sentence if he didn't reach his appointment at the police station he was heading to. -
Charlie dies
When the boys leave the bar, two men are waiting for Mark and Bryon in the alley. They pull out a gun, planning to beat the boys up. Charlie intervenes with his own gun to rescue the boys, but he is killed in the resulting crossfire. This was heartbreaking for the brothers. -
They get Charlie's car
In the aftermath of Charlie’s death, the Texans are caught and tried, and the police give Charlie’s car to Bryon and Mark. Bryon is consumed by guilt over what happened, but Mark tells him that sometimes “things happen.” Bryon is frustrated that Mark doesn’t understand why he feels guilty. -
Bryon likes Cathy
Bryon spends more and more time talking to Cathy about his feelings. -
Bryon changes his life
Bryon also starts to make changes in his life. Since his mom has to stay in bed for a month to recover from her operation, Bryon tries more earnestly to get a job. He gets a haircut, puts on clean clothes, and resolves to change his attitude. Bryon also realizes that he loves Cathy, but he has a hard time telling her so. -
M&M dissapears
Bryon, Cathy, M&M, and Mark go driving along a stretch of Tulsa called “the Ribbon,” where many kids hang out. Bryon realizes as they hang out that Cathy and Mark don’t like each other much. M&M doesn’t reappear for a week, and Bryon and Cathy search for him every day along the Ribbon. Meanwhile, Bryon gets a job in a supermarket, and Mark starts bringing in money as well—though Bryon doesn’t know where he’s getting it. Mark reveals that he knows where M&M is, and Bryon is furious. -
They find M&M
Bryon and Cathy go to a hippie house, where they discover M&M on a very bad drug trip. He is having terrifying hallucinations and had been trying to jump out a window all day. Bryon carries him into the car, and he and Cathy meet her father at the hospital. The doctor tells Cathy, Mr. Carlson, and Bryon that M&M may never recover from the brain damage that the drug has caused. -
Bryon discovered Mark's secret
Bryon looks under Mark’s mattress for a cigarette to calm him, but instead he finds a bottle of pills. Suddenly, he realizes that Mark has been selling drugs. Mark claims that he never sold the drugs to M&M. He justifies his actions by saying anyone who wants drugs could get them, and so he might as well make money. Bryon tells Mark that he called the cops, and Mark is shocked. The cops arrive and arrest Mark after Bryon describes all the crimes that Mark had committed. -
Bryon is left in a bad mentally spot
The next morning, Bryon grapples with whether he did the right thing. When Cathy visits him, he is rude to her, presuming that she is happy now that Mark is out of the way. He promises to call her, but he knows that he doesn’t love her anymore. Bryon testifies in Mark’s trial, and the judge sentences Mark to the state reformatory for five years. Bryon tries to visit him, but he hears that Mark is making trouble at the reformatory -
Mark and Bryon's friendship tears up in a thousand pieces
At the end of the summer, Bryon is finally able to visit Mark. Mark says that he hates Bryon, and that he no longer thinks of them as brothers. Bryon thinks that Mark would have killed him if he could. Bryon explains that he hasn’t visited Mark again. He wonders what he could have done differently. He wishes he were a kid again, back when he felt surer of himself and had all the answers.