At school, I suddenly knew what it was like to be popular. Everyone wanted to talk to me and I didn't for a minute kid myself into thinking they had taken a genuine interest in me. They didn't care about my running or my thoughts on music anymore than they ever had. They always started out with some lame personal questions, but it was all just a lead-up to the inevitable inquisition. Do you know where he is? Did you ever see his dad beat him? What does squirrel meat taste like? Craig and Tom have been friends since second grade, but that was five years ago and Craig is getting sick of Tom's out-of-bounds behavior. When Craig begins to realize that he may have more potential in school than he ever thought, he starts to distance himself from Tom, who is both the class clown and the school bully. But severing ties with an old friend is never easy, and a foolhardy incident in a local park pulls Craig back into Tom's orbit. Faced with the realities of Tom's home life, Craig must determine the limits of this volatile friendship.