While under house arrest for one year for stealing a wallet, young Timothy keeps free-verse notes on his life in a court-ordered journal as he deals with having a sick brother and tries to stay out of trouble.

Told in text messages, middle-schooler Ava is having a really bad day: her parents are getting divorced, she has had a big argument with her best friends, and the charge on her cellphone is getting low; but things are about to get a lot worse because the lockdown alarm has just gone off, and there is an intruder in the school building.