Clem was considered a problem child who talked too loud and thought too little. His grandparents insisted on sending him and Tabby to a private school when they came of age, and while his sister did very well in school, Clem did not.

Between his sister's apparent dislike of him, his mother's lack of time, and his problems understanding basic materials, Clem resorted to playing practical jokes to stave off boredom (and hurt feelings). From kindergarten to third grade, his try-hard approach to socializing didn't win him any friends during recess.

Judy graduates college and ushers her tiny family away from their overbearing, hypocritical grandparents, sparing Clem from his private school angst. They move into what Clem believes to be "half a house" in the downtown neighborhood and Clem's room is on the second floor, where his window opens up onto the roof. It becomes his favorite spot.

When they move, Judy starts working long hours to support them and pay back her parents what she owes them. Clem and Tabby get home around three-thirty-ish, eat whatever their mother left for them before she gets back (usually around eight). By the time she gets home, Clem's already supposed to be asleep, but Tabby's lead on him is weak and waits anyway. Judy's usually too tired to do much, but makes him go to bed at nine.

Public education is much kinder to him. The classrooms are over-populated and everyone's so talkative that he blends in seamlessly, and during the fourth grade he makes quite a few friends. The best part is that he never has to see Tabby during the day--there's way too many kids.

His group of friends (they call themselves the "Ocecats" and join bloodied hands while they're hanging out at Joey's after school, claim they're all brothers now, and Clem's happy because the seven of them are so much better than Tabitha would ever be) become his only focus during school days, seeing as how he doesn't understand anything his teachers give him anyway.

During the fifth grade, they fight kids over a few tables in the cafeteria and suddenly they have a territory, and Clem feels like he's apart of something important. In the sixth grade, the majority of their clique has moved to the middle school and they start arguing over their collective moniker like it's a band name--first Ocecats, but then someone says it sounds kiddish, and then it's Ocelots, then that'd be submitting to a rival if they were called "Snakes" or something so they change it to Bobcats, then Cougars, then Kit-Kats. Finally, McNeil, who's in the seventh grade and is the oldest, tells them they're all being stupid.

Sometimes, Clem stays over at his friends' houses for days, not wanting to go home where his family ignores him unless he messes something up. When he's staying with Nikki or Shiloh, someone's always in the house because they have too many siblings to count. And when he's at Morty's, the shorter boy (the only one in the gang to be so who's not a girl) talks to him all night and doesn't roll his eyes when he says something stupid.

Their mother dies in a car accident when he's twelve. It happens so quickly, all Clem has time to think about is how her funeral costs more money than her house did, and how stiff and tired-looking (he can see the resemblance to her daughter, this way) his grandma is when she tells them they'll be moving back in.

His sister graduates her sophomore year with honors but she cries all night. It's the last night he sees her, either; he runs away the next morning. He doesn't want to leave his friends behind for his holier-than-thou, racist relatives.

For the next four years, Clem's been rotating between different friends' houses. He stays at Morty's the most, because Morty's parents are the only ones who know the details of his situation, and agreed to let him stay as long as he keeps going to school (and stays off the streets).