At 16, Stacy Evans dropped out of high school in the hopes of moving on with his life. But four years later, he's stuck in an abusive relationship with Lamar, a "friend with benefits," and works long hours at a dead-end job just to get by.<br><br>Then his mother enrolls him in a program to earn his GED. There he meets Darian, a woodshop teacher who is everything Stacy's friends are not -- smart, successful ... and who seems to take a personal interest in helping Stacy turn his life around. The two develop a rapport that keeps Stacy after school just to spend extra time with him. In intimate moments alone, they grow closer than just student and teacher.<br><br>On the right track for once, Stacy has a chance to choose between his troublesome past and a promising future with Darian. But his jealous friends won't let him go so easily.

Stepping Up to the Plate

Another long silence. Stacy frowned at the envelope in his hands and thought of Cal sitting in his recliner by the tv, going on and on about how that boy wouldn’t ever amount to shit. Fuck him. Stacy’s hands curled into involuntary fists, crumpling the envelope in their anger. He’d show that bastard. Ange was right, he wasn’t dumb. Smoothing out the envelope, Stacy asked, “So when’s this thing start?”   3


Lamar didn’t like the idea of Stacy going back to school, no surprise there. The fact that Stacy didn’t tell him about it until a week before registration didn’t help much, either. To be honest he didn’t want to tell him at all—the only person who knew right from the start was Ange. At work Stacy read him the brochure that had accompanied the enrollment letter, the two of them leaning beneath the open hood of a battered Jeep under the pretense of fixing a busted radiator. “So what do you think?” Stacy asked, folding up the brochure. 


Chapter 11