The first chapter of Ender's Game begins with a conversation between two unnamed people, discussing a boy and his two siblings. They decide that the boy is the one they need to save the world from the buggers, although they have doubts, just as they did about the brother and sister. .
The story begins to describe the life of Ender, the six year old boy they were describing. He is having his monitor removed. This device had allowed the authorities to view the world as he did, and from Ender's thoughts we learn that the monitor has made him an outcast. His brother Peter also had a monitor, but Ender had his for a year longer, and Peter hates him for this. Ender wants Peter to stop hating him, but quickly decides that he and Peter will never be friends, because Peter is too dangerous. The removal of the monitor is painful, and Ender is drugged before returning to class.
When Ender returns to class he is teased by a boy named Stilson, but Ender just seems bored by school. He knows the answers to all of the questions and hardly bothers paying attention. He is teased about being a "Third", and Ender thinks that it is the government's fault that he is a Third, since they authorized his birth. After school Ender is cornered and held by a group of bullies led by Stilson. Ender realizes that the situation does not look good for him and decides to do something about it. He talks them into letting go of him and then kicks Stilson in the chest. It occurs to Ender that he must stop their bullying once and for all. So, even though he knows not to strike an opponent who is on the ground, he kicks Stilson brutally several more times to stop anyone from messing with him in the future. Then Ender cries while waiting for the bus, thinking that he has become just like Peter.
The second chapter begins with a conversation between the same two adults, who apparently approve of the way that Ender dealt with Stilson, comparing his actions to those of someone named Mazer Rackham.