 After a quick breakfast with his parents, Ben leaves the house and takes his bike for a fast and risky ride. While the opening credits are shown we see some spectacular camera movements following Ben on his way to school with the bike. The music is some kind of pop-rock; very fast editing. The audience must think: the boy on the bike is the cool guy in this movie. However this is a big mistake: Ben hardly enters the school when some of his classmates pull him to the restroom and beat him up. Ben faints and the audience learns in flashbacks that he always was an outsider. Ben never fights back or seeks help; he stays passive and tries to avoid any conflict situations. He lies to his parents about his injuries: they think their son gets hurt in football practice. The teachers don t seem to sympathizes with Ben for often being late for classes; because he never complaints they don t know the reason for his behavior. However Ben impresses his English teacher Mr. Harrison by his analyzes of Shakespeare s "Hamlet" so that the teacher changes his attitude towards this sensitive and intelligent pupil. The only teacher however is sensible and feels a kind of responsibility to Ben is his tutor Herr Lehmann. By accident he sees some of Ben s injuries: first he thinks the boy is mistreated by his parents. However Ben tells him the truth and he begs him not to do anything against the malevolent pupils. Also by Herr Lehmann Ben learns that the other teachers are concerned about him for they do suspect that he carries a heavy burden.