Shady Oaks Collegiate had a relatively small student population for the town; of the four public high-schools, it was the smallest. Everyone knew everyone else, and normally secrets became public gossip faster than you can say "promise you won't tell anyone..."
Despite this, there were several students that were holding onto big secrets. Seth Johnson and Corey Silver were not the only ones trying to navigate high-school life while also deal with the crushing weight of a life-changing secret.
Nobody at the school, student or staff, knew that the art teacher, Mrs. Nesbitt, was growing weed in her greenhouse. Nor were they aware that the principal, Mr. Dodds, was having an affair with one of the secretaries, Mrs. Finley. And the otherwise unattainable rush that the manger of the cafeteria, Mr. Spinnet, felt when he 'rearranged' the ledger to pad his bank account, was something that had not yet become known to any other living soul.
In contrast, EVERYONE knew that David Leeber was a fag. That information had stopped being a secret years ago, and in that time David had seen his already unenviable life become worse and worse.
All that David Leeber had ever wanted to do was to make it through high school as quickly and painlessly as he possibly could.
Having been outed in junior-high to his entire school by a "friend" whom he had confided in--that dream had been rendered impossible. If he went a day without being stuffed into a locker, or having his head flushed down a toilet, or being beaten up in the hallways...it was a good day.
David didn't have any real friends. Michaela Church had been his best friend, but ever since that day in sixth grade when she ruined his life, he hadn't spoken a word to her. And she only talked to him when it was to make a joke at his expense to her posse of sidekicks.
David was really alone at school, even the teachers didn't care. They just saw that he didn't really seem to grasp their lectures, and that he didn't have much of a home life; it was inevitable that he would be picked on, and it was easier to just let it happen than to have to write up a report about it...at least in their eyes.
The only person that David felt he could trust was Corey Silver. Corey had saved David, more than once, from the football team's plans of torment. But David wasn't an easy guy to befriend, and being a little pudgy-and a little unkempt-Corey wasn't eager to keep David as a tag-along.
Corey was a nice guy, willing to help David out when he could, but he didn't really like Dave any more than anyone else. He didn't want to see anything bad happen to the guy, but Corey was too self-involved to want to have to babysit poor David.
The Leeber family was the average, lower-middle class family. They didn't have too many luxuries, they drove an old car that was falling apart, and the house was often to be found in a state of disrepair.
David's parents, Loretta and Joel Leeber were both good people trying to make ends meet. Unfortunately, they often had to cut corners where their son's wellbeing was concerned. They both worked long hours at minimum wage jobs, and neither had time for their troubled boy.
Loretta was a waitress at Artruro's by day, a job which had good tip money, but wasn't nearly enough considering it came with no benefits. So, by night she worked at a convenience store. Joel Leeber was a worker at the paper plant. He wasn't a very skilled man, and was able to land a job as a glorified custodian. He worked hard, but still was barely able to keep a roof over the family's heads and clothes on their backs.
