Thirteen-year-old Mike isn’t looking forward to the beginning of the school year. Middle school is tough anyway, and being the new kid at Llewellyn Junior High only makes it worse. Mike just wants to keep his head down and get through it, maybe make a few friends along the way, and hope that the school bullies leave him alone.

It’s not long before Jack, the self-proclaimed leader of the Snakes gang, recruits Mike for his crew of troublemakers. Normally Mike wouldn’t be caught with a bunch of losers like the Snakes, but the only friend he really has is Robyn, and well, she’s a girl.

From the beginning, though, the Snakes, and Jack in particular, put Mike through the ringer. His initiation involves stealing the school mascot from a cheerleader’s house-Robyn’s house, no less-and it’s not long before Mike starts to get deeper and deeper in the Snakes. Because of what he’s done, Robyn isn’t exactly happy with him, and Mike soon has some hard choices to make. Will Mike do what he knows to be right, or will the influence of his new friends lead him astray? Mike is about to find out that the need to belong may not be worth the price …