Betrayed . . .
Andy Jenkins and Neil Freemount have been best friends for years. They hang out together, double-date, and help each other with their homework.
But bully Charlie Cashman sets out to make life miserable for Andy, just because Andy is black. First Andy finds trash in his locker. Then his girlfriend is taunted, and he is pushed around in the school parking lot. Neil wants to help his best friend, but suddenly Andy turns against him, and Neil doesn't know why. The two boys are about to face the greatest challenge of their lives. Can their friendship survive the test?
"What's wrong?" Neil asked. When Andy didn't say anything, Neil looked into his friend's locker to see what the problem was. He felt his stomach drop.
Andy's locker was full of cafeteria garbage. It was a complete mess.
"What the-!" Neil exclaimed. Then he noticed something was written on the inside of the locker door: "Go back to Africa where you belong."
"Andy - I can't believe this," Neil whispered, horrified.
Andy drew a deep breath, then let out a hollow laugh. "It's no big deal," he said, obviously trying to sound nonchalant.
"But, you mean, you're just going to ignore this?" Neil asked.
"What do you want to do?" Andy asked. "Yell racism and go running to the principal? That's just what they want, whoever did this."
"Look," Neil said. "I really think you should tell Mr. Cooper about this."
Andy shook his head decisively. "Let me handle it my way, Neil. I just think it's better not to get all confrontational about it."
Reluctantly, Neil nodded. Maybe his friend was right. Maybe it was better to let it pass. But deep down, he knew that ignoring the problem wouldn't make it go away.
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