Sam and Alec walked to school hand in hand. they had been going out since the fair three weeks ago. As they walked a house, a man stared at Sam. She looked away but Alec glared directly at him. "Back off f**. She's mine." The man walked closer to the street and Alec held Sam behind him and they stopped. "Mabey she yours now but tonight she gonna be screamin my name!" Alec clenched his fists and his jaw was tight as he pressed towards the man. "That tears it." He said between his teeth. Sam held him back. "Wait Alec. You don't need to worry about him. It was just a comment so lets just go." The man left back into his house and Alec calmed down. Sam turned him around. "You need to calm it down, Alec. Just calm down." His teeth were still clenched. "I can't." he said sternly. "Let me help you then." She kissed him. He leaned her against a tree and put his hands at her waist. From his doorway, the man from earlier shouted "Awww!". Alec tightened his grip unknowingly and it only got tighter and tighter. "Alec...Alec...Ow Alec...stop you're hurting me." Before she could finish the word "me", he backed away from the kiss with a frightened look on his face. "I'm sorry Sam! Are you ok? Did I leave a mark?" She frantically searched under her shirt for any bruises until he found a light purple mark that was starting to crop up and get darker. "Da**it. Not again." She was confused. "What do you mean by 'again'?" He examined the bruises then he backed away. "Sam...I'm sorry...so sorry." He stopped at the edge of the sidewalk, bent down, put his head in his face, and cried. "Alec it was just one time. The bruises will just fade." Even these words didn't help him. She bent down beside him and held him. "Break up with me, Sam. Leave me now." She was stunned by his words. "But why? It was just one time." He shook his head. "I'm not...good anymore, Sam." "I don't understand." "My last girlfriend...I...I hurt her." "What happened? You can tell me I promise I won't tell anyone at all." He looked into her gray eyes and saw truth. "We got into a fight. A bad fight. She was doing drugs with some boy and they...they had sex...unprotected. She got pregnant. I asked her to stay with me and I'd be it's father. She wasn't going to stay. She was going back with the boy. I told her that the kid would have problems because of the drugs and she said she'd do whatever she wanted. She said 'Your mom smoked weed when she had you so what's the difference?' and I got so mad...I...hit her...I didn't mean to. But my mom...she had cancer...she had to take pills from weed...and that little b**** wanted to insult her. I don't want that to happen with us. I'm a monster and I don't want to hurt you, Sam. Leave me. Please." She helped him stand up. She kissed him. "I won't leave you. You're not a monster. You're Alec Warren, the sweet, passionate, strong boy that you were when I met you. We'll work on it." And once again, they were walking, hand in hand, to South High.
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Eli walked from his dad's pick-up. His dad wanted to drive by the school so Eli didn't drive the first day of school. "And don't be messin with those lil n***** girls ok? You know they're nothing but trouble." his dad shouted. Eli gave a thumbs up and his dad sped off, leaving him at the gate. He wished he could tell his dad that he and Jaci were happy together. His dad was never a fan of black people. All he wanted was all white grand kids but he didn't know that he would have a mixed one when they got old enough. He wished he would understand that they were happy, that she wasn't like the other girls. She was smart and funny and she helped him through everything. Oh well, he thought. He'll find out when little Jacinda Elias Greyson or Kalven Elias Greyson is walking around. He met up with her under the trees. "Hey Eli! So how'd it go with your dad?" Jaci asked. "Well it uh...slipped my mind...?" Eli studdered. "You still haven't told him?" "Well he'd kill me! I'm sorry. This is all bull. Why can't he just let us be happy?" She leaned on him and sighed. "It's ok. I know how it is. We'll make it though, Eli. I swear." He wasn't sure. "But what if he finds out? He said that if I end up with a black person, that he'd kick me out of the house." Jaci rolled her eyes. "He wouldn't, Eli. Your his only son. I don't think he'd like to just be stuck in the house with your little sisters." "But you don't know my dad." Eli shuddered. He remembered the time when his dad kicked him out. He gave him a couple bucks and sent him on his way. Eli's job didn't pay enough for him to buy more than just enough to sleep in his car. He told Jaci. "Well that was before you had someone like me. My parents love you and they'd let you stay if you didn't have anywhere to go so if your dad does find out, you can always come and stay with us."  And then to Elias everything was alright.