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

Stacy shrugged. “Just because you haven’t heard of them doesn’t mean they ain’t famous.”


She chose to ignore that. “Middle initial?”


One corner of her mouth lifted up in a smirk. “I assume you meant d. Address?” With a slight movement she shook the hair back from her face and raised her chin just enough to look down at him as she struggled to hold onto her frown. She expected him to name a street in the bad part of town, he knew it, and he hated the fact that he wasn’t able to disappoint her. Lamar’s apartment complex was notorious, always in the paper for skirmishes with the police or drug busts, cable theft, gunshots. His mother’s neighborhood wasn’t so bad but the homes there were small and old and emptying out as their tenets died and the meager lots of land didn’t sell. Ange lived near the rail yards and Colin in Section 8 housing, government projects. 


Chapter 18