“Dude, I swear I was gonna be there. But my sister got in this epic fight with her boyfriend, and I had to film it from the window. It was going on and on and I literally could not leave.”

“You filmed it?”

“She doesn’t know that. I was editing it for my channel.”

David grabbed Nate by the arm. “No. You can’t do that, Nate. What are you thinking?”

“Okay, I might let her see it, but dude, she was throwing bricks at his car. She hit it twice and he got out screaming at her and—”

“David, can I speak with you for a second?” Mr. Russell said as David neared the door.

“Sure.” David stepped toward the teacher’s desk and Nate followed.

“Just David. Nate, you can head to class.”

Nate leaned in with a skeptical look. “Is it important? Because I kinda wanna hear about it.”

Mr. Russell stared at Nate with a look that said everything.

“Okay, I’m good. But he’s gonna tell me as soon as he leaves the room.”

David shook his head as Nate left and he turned to his teacher. Mr. Russell was an African American man who loved to make history come alive for them. He had a way of teaching that made it feel like they weren’t in school looking for test answers. History was about people and their struggles, the man said, and if you learn it and listen to it carefully, it will teach you lessons you can use in every aspect of life.

Mr. Russell narrowed his focus on David. “Look, I want you to think about something, all right? I’m overseeing the speech competition, and I think you should consider entering.”

“Why? I mean, I’m not really good in front of crowds.”

“Two reasons. Your classmates have a lot of respect for you. And I think you could speak on a theme that we’ve been given.”

“What’s that?”

Mr. Russell smiled. “The value of family.”

David looked down and put both arms through his backpack. “You mean, because I’m adopted.” He said it with resignation, as if he’d been put into a different class of people.

“And that’s an important perspective. So far, no one’s focusing on that.”

David shifted from one foot to the other and didn’t make eye contact. He lowered his voice. “Yeah, but not a lot of people know that I’m adopted.”

“I understand. I just believe that you could do a great job. There’s even a cash prize.”

“Yeah, I heard about that.”

“Look, just think about it. Okay?”

“All right.”

David hurried to his locker and found Nate talking with a classmate in the hall. He was giving her the address of his video channel. For Nate, everything was about videos.

As David opened his locker, Nate stepped over.