Academic and football collapse: flunking English, the year's withdrawal, the dropout

pivotal · ~ages 16-17, B.S.

• When: sophomore-year spring (flunks Comp), a year's withdrawal at ~16, return at 17
• What: English ("Ethan From"/Ethan Frome) sank him: he flunked Sophomore Comp in May, was kicked off the football team his tenth-grade year for flunking English (given a tutor, still flunked), lost the fall's eligibility, and withdrew from school for a year to preserve his junior season. His sixteenth year is "mostly a gray blank." He returned at seventeen, 284 lbs, on an inflexible oxycodone need-schedule, and lost his starting spot to a "clear-eyed freshman"; Kite left for Salem State on a full CompSci ride.