Toby Thompson turns 13 this fall. He's got his work cut out for him. These are the days when middle school, soccer, and life can each drive ya crazy He shows up for his first day of middle school, science class, with his giant best friend Freddie; only to be startled to red-alert by a bizarre science teacher in a superman costume who's got a two-headed turtle for an assistant. He even forgets for a brief moment his worries about the school's soccer team tryouts that afternoon; only to show up and find out that he's the new center defender on the Hopetown Eagles, the hometown-favorite middle school team that only had 15 guys show up for tryouts. Seems like a couple of last year's ringers signed on with the newly-formed Hopetown Raiders, under former semi-pro, snake-in-the-grass "Bull" Taggert, whose son Kirk, their team's star, is easily the dirtiest player Toby's ever been on the field with. And the Hopetown Eagles are due to be on the field with 'em again, this time with half the city watchin' and screamin' Then Toby returns home that first school day to learn that he and his sister and little brother will have to shift their lives quite a bit now to allow their uncle Ben, a Harley-riding, mysterious alcoholic war vet, to share their home. Maybe 13 is unlucky.