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

This had been right after he left home. She was still too upset to talk to him and he had needed money, not yet working at the time. Whenever he tried to ask her for a few dollars or something to eat, ‘on the house’ because he was dead broke, she shrugged him off. His friends’ obnoxious laughter scared away most of the other customers and finally Don Tomason himself came over, the Dixie’s owner and Stacy’s mother’s boss. Unceremoniously he threw them out, threatening to call the cops if they even walkedpassed his place again. Stacy didn’t want to chance it when he could just as easily catch his mom at Wal-Mart. “I’m here now, aren’t I? I saw you called last night. What was that for?”


A smile broke across his mother’s face. “To remind you I’m alive.”


She didn’t let him finish. “It worked, didn’t it? You’re here.”


“I thought it was something important,” Stacy lied. Why was she busting on him today?


Chapter 59