Middle-schooler Kyle Keeley and his friends, Akimi Hughes and Sierra Russell, are envied by other children their age because they star in the commercial for Mr. Lemoncello’s new video game Squirrel Squad Six. Kyle has also starred in previous commercials for Mr. Lemoncello’s board and video games; he and his friend, Miguel Fernandez, played pawns in the See Ya, Wouldn’t Want to Be Ya commercial, and Kyle, Akimi, Sierra, Miguel, and another friend called Haley Daley were all in the commercial for You Seriously Can’t Say That. The commercials are silly and unpredictable, and each ends with the announcer asking if the game was fun and Haley replying “Fun? Hello? It’s a Lemoncello!” (3). The five friends star in these commercials because this was their prize after winning a contest six months previously at Mr. Lemoncello’s new library in their hometown of Alexandriaville, Ohio.

Charles Chiltington competed against Kyle and his friends in the contest at the library. Mr. Lemoncello disqualified Charles for what Charles thinks was a “trumped-up technicality,” and now he is jealous of Kyle and his friends and feels cheated. Charles is from a wealthy and powerful family and resents losing to people he thinks of as ordinary.