Content Warning: These Chapter Summaries & Analyses discuss the racism and racially motivated violence that feature in Your House Will Pay.

Shawn and Ava Matthews are going to see a movie in the mostly white Los Angeles neighborhood of Westwood. They are planning to sneak into the R-rated movie New Jack City. They meet up with their cousin Ray Holloway, his best friend Duncan Green, and other high schoolers from their neighborhood. Shawn wants to give off a good impression. He looks up to Ray and Duncan, who are popular with girls. Ava, Ray, and Duncan are all high school students, around 16 years old, and Shawn—the narrator—is 13. His Aunt Sheila (Ray’s mother) forced them to let Shawn tag along.

The group waits in a long line to get into the theater. Shawn reflects that while Ray and Duncan are in a gang, they do not seem especially intimidating. They tease Shawn, but jokingly. They also tease Ava for listening to Chopin on her Walkman, but she holds her own and teases them back. Everyone respects Ava’s love of classical music because she won a prize at a piano recital. Shawn is jealous that Ava has a Walkman and fantasizes about the kind of music he would listen to.