A story set in suburban Chicago during the late 1980s, during the time when gangs from the city were starting to spread into the surrounding suburbs. Mario, a well-read but socially awkward teenager, leaves the security of a paraochial school background and enters his freshman year at a public school. Almost from his first day he is verbally attacked by some of the football players, due to his timidness and out of date clothing. The abuse escalates to other mean acts perpetrated by some of the school's student elite, until by chance he is forced into a fight with his main antagonist. With no chance of victory, help arrives in a way Mario thought was not possible. One the school considers a "problem-student" comes to Mario's aid, and a friendship is formed that will forever change Mario's life.
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