The graphic novel opens with a black-and-white comic strip drawn by the story’s protagonist and narrator, Jordan Banks. In the strip, Jordan reflects that he is in his final year of junior high school; he hopes to get into art school but knows he will miss his friends at Riverdale Academy Day School (RAD). He hates the idea of being the new kid again, but, at the same time, he’s excited to be “around other artists and people who get [him]” (8). The comic strip ends with Jordan reflecting that being at RAD has made him into a new person, and he likes this new version of himself.

In real life, Jordan’s parents walk into his room and hand him a letter. Jordan opens it excitedly—it’s his acceptance letter from art school. The next day, at school, Jordan shares the news with his friends Drew Ellis and Liam Landers, who are happy for him but sad that he will be leaving them. The three then learn that they have been selected to go on a school trip to Paris, along with their schoolmates Ramon,

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