Damien "Dame" Mercer is Silver Valley High's resident troublemaker: an angry, cigarette-smoking bassist with a reputation for fighting, skipping class, and telling authority figures exactly what he thinks of them.

Behind his rebellious exterior is an eighteen-year-old struggling to survive on his own after growing up in a deeply unstable home.

He wants to leave Silver Valley, become a musician, and build a life completely different from the one his parents gave him.

He isn't easy to approach, trust, or love.

But underneath the anger, sarcasm, and cigarette smoke is someone who desperately wants to believe that not everyone eventually leaves.