When the second semester starts, Little dedicates herself to preparing her students for the AP exam and drops her personal squabbles. The class begins reading The Elephant Man. Given her past as a drama teacher, she often chooses to read plays. However, she gets sidetracked by the verdict in the second O. J. trial, in which O. J. Simpson is ordered to pay $8.5 million in compensatory damages. She is critical of O. J., while many of her students are not.

Little asks the students to write about a psychological or physical danger they faced. A popular student named Willie writes an essay about how his family was broken up when his mother began smoking crack cocaine. Willie lives with his father but rarely sees him, as his father works the night shift at the post office. However, his father is an active part of his life and encourages him to do well in school rather than to play football.

During the summer before senior year, Willie saw his mother, who had been released from prison, passed out in a yard in his neighborhood. He cried often, missing his mother. He attended a summer program at Pepperdine and was assured of a scholarship there.