Two friends hold lofty ambitions of being the world's best.
Enter Chris Brown. A humble, confident long-distance runner has sacrificed twice a day years on end to become the top 5000Meters runner in the world. In Flagstaff, Arizona, altitude allows him to defy the high-altitude advantages of the East Africans. Through brutally hard training and relentless consistency, Coach Colin Smith has bred a boy who is set to become the next Bekele, the next Galen Rupp, the next Bernard Lagat. However, can the young African-American lad stay the nice guy without cracking under the pressure. Constantly over-looked, unpopular, and often a social outcast to most, will success turn him too WOKE for others to take?
His close friend Carter Miller is a top tennis player, already playing Division 1 in Junior High, a massive prodigy surrounded by fame. He's often the center of attention, popular, and slaps so many hands that Chris gets irritated. Yet, he's always distanced himself from celebrity status, and has fought to dodge the limelight. Will he crack under the pressure of chasing greatness?
According to the Oxford Dictionary, the American Dream is the ideal by which equality is available to any American, allowing the highest aspirations and goals to be achieved. Yet, for dreams to turn into goals which are then carved into feats, a painful process of endless dedication is needed. One has to push through the distracting paths of toxic masculinity, emptiness, sex and drugs, to transform naive youthful ambition into happiness. There is a choice between happiness and greatness, the seekers have been told, but can they achieve both?
Ella is falling apart trying to live a "perfect" high school life. Then she meets Ren, who can see past her scars. Suddenly perfection isn't her only option.
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Ella Volkov is a gifted music student, but she's depressed and starting to crack under the pressure of high school. Her overbearing father won't even let her choose what instrument she plays. Then she finds herself alone at a party with Ren, her best friend's crush. She'd always thought he was rude, but after that night he's all Ella can think about. Now she's trapped. If Ella dates Ren, it will ruin her friendship with Jenny. But if she stays true to Jenny, she's losing the one person who can see past her scars. It's up to Ella to decide if she will forge her own path, or stay in the "perfect" box designed for her...
Content and/or Trigger Warning: depression, anxiety, self-harm, violence, sexual assault.
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