In chapter two of Philbrick's Freak the Mighty, it is the first day of July and Max is bored. He goes outside for a change of scenery from his basement bedroom and sees a local moving van. There's a duplex next to his grandparents' house, and he sees that the unit that has been vacant since last December is the one that new neighbors are moving into. Then he spies Gwen, whose name he doesn't know at the time. He feels as though he recognizes her by thinking the following:

"I'm thinking, hey I know her, and then I'm thinking, no way, butthead, no way you'd know a female that beautiful" (7).

Max then notices Kevin crawling around and yelling at the moving men. He remembers him from their daycare days and assumes that this is where he would have seen his mother, too. Therefore, the new neighbors moving into the duplex next to Max's house are Gwen and Kevin (a.k.a Freak). If it weren't for them moving into the apartment next door, Max never would have developed a real friendship. This friendship benefits Max in so many ways because Kevin helps him to learn how to read, write, and to be confident.