troy betancourt's first steps are on a hardwood floor in a worn, cheap boston apartment. mother lies in bed in the next room and father is somewhere out on the streets hustling for some extra cash to feed himself, his girl and his son. it's not much, but it's home.<p>

the boy is a few weeks shy of a year old and yet he teeters back and forth with all the courage of a grown man, movements unsteady but growing more controlled by the second. when his mother rushes into the living room in a drunken stupor and sudden bout of hyper-consciousness, baby troy topples over and nicks himself on the edge of their lounging table. that accident is but one of many that take place while troy is under the care of his parents, one of many that go unnoticed, unexplained, unchallenged.<p>

they weren't necessarily bad people, troy's biological parents. hell, at one point in time, they were probably a great couple with a profound love and respect of one another. however, adding a kid to the mix while continually giving in to their individual vices ultimately proved to be their undoing. their concern for troy and one another was eclipsed by their vanity, their desires, and eventually the two became physically abusive of one another when they no longer met eye to eye.<p> too young to truly understand the tragedy unfolding before his very eyes, troy watched as father lay his hands on mother for the very last time. having grown tired of the abuse, troy's mother dials the authorities and after a lengthy investigation, mother and father are both deemed unfit parents for their son. at the tender age of four years old, troy is torn away from the only family he's ever known. they weren't much, but they were home.<p>
<div class="apphead">the move</div>
<div class="appsub">meet arthur & sarah ellis</div>
it's all a little daunting at first, getting used to the bigger house, bigger bed, bigger everything that came with his new foster parents. troy is still but four years old, a shy, reserved thing who takes his time to open up to not only his novel parents, but the other children who came before him as well. he longs for the familiar face of his mother, his father, the comfort of their downtrodden apartment, and although he's too young to grasp mature concepts such as loss, part of the boy wonders if he'll wind up without this second family as well.<p> the confusion of being separated from his biological parents does ease with time, it eases as troy learns what it means to have brothers, sisters, eases after spending christmas with his new family and finding a cluster of toys laid out just for him, eases when he starts calling arthur and sarah [i]dad, mom,[/i] respectively. initially, troy's stay with the ellis family was to be temporary. two years after his arrival, however, troy is officially adopted by the family and has his surname changed from [b]betancourt[/b] to [b]ellis.[/b] in just two short years, troy had been integrated so well into the family arthur and sarah could not imagine giving him up.<p>the circumstances of troy's adoption act as a source of motivation for the boy throughout his years in school. he strives to be the best he can be in all things, not for the sake of competition, but for the sake of making his mother and father proud. part of him is also driven by the desire to confront the ones who'd given him up and call them out on their bullshit, but then part of him would also be fine with never crossing paths with them again. it's all very fucked up and confusing. seeking somewhere to vent freely without making any of his family or friends uncomfortable, troy establishes an online blog in his early teens where he speaks candidly about his life and what its like being raised in a home with eight or so kids. as he spends more and more time running the blog, he comes into contact with stories like his own and worlds from it.
<div class="apphead">the stunt</div>
<div class="appsub">good guys doing bad things</div>
in his first year of high school, troy becomes involved with an online group of hackers consisting of people old and young who [i]really[/i] should have known better than to be messing with personal files and security companies over the internet, but hey. he's young, dumb, and easily persuaded into tagging along, only dimly aware of the repercussions associated with their actions.