The Fast Track

After the game, another victory for Team California, Keller drops D off at home. Keller slips on a leather bomber jacket and turns off the radio, which he keeps tuned to the hip-hop station that D prefers.

"I know how this looks," says Keller as he backs the truck out of the driveway. "I know you are going to say that what is going on here is weird. People are going to say it looks bad, like I'm manipulating this kid. Like I'm trying to take advantage. But I'm not going to get a thing out of this. My only hope is that maybe, one day, when Demetrius is in the NBA, he can come back and sponsor my team. We'll call it the Demetrius Walker All-Stars. If he wants to do that, great. If not, that's fine. I'm doing everything that's right for the kid, and right now, what he wants, what I want, what his mom wants--we all want the same thing, and that's for Demetrius to succeed and grow and graduate and do all those things he is supposed to do."

How could that be bad for him?