The Ten-Cent Boy and the Brooklyn Dime

Blanche Bianco, a fifteen year old girl, goes reluctantly to a country high school 250 miles north of Brooklyn, where her mother was educated. Her parents are concerned about her slipping grades, drugs, arrests and pregnancy problems at her Brooklyn school. Beautiful in a flashy sort of way and with a Brooklyn accent, she thinks she is an outcast. Then she meets Ken, an athlete-student of unexpected quality but limited means because of a broken home. She doesn't look at him or talk to...
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Blanche Bianco, a fifteen year old girl, goes reluctantly to a country high school 250 miles north of Brooklyn, where her mother was educated. Her parents are concerned about her slipping grades, drugs, arrests and pregnancy problems at her Brooklyn school. Beautiful in a flashy sort of way and with a Brooklyn accent, she thinks she is an outcast. Then she meets Ken, an athlete-student of unexpected quality but limited means because of a broken home. She doesn't look at him or talk to him differently because he is poor, like most people. They forge a relationship that cracks when she returns to Brooklyn High School of the Arts for her senior year, then on to Brooklyn College of Performing Arts. Ken gets a lacrosse scholarship to Maritime College in the Bronx with Blanche's help, and tries to maintain contact with her. Their relationship hangs by a thread and it is severed when Blanche transfers to Pace University and subsequently gets a movie contract requiring she go to Los Angeles. The only viable link between them lies with Blanche's parents. After Blanche leaves for California Ken transfers from Maritime to Cornell, nearer his mother and sister. His reputation in academics, lacrosse and ethics climb. Blanche's career is financially successful but her films are morally borderline, a fact her father had feared and doesn't hesitate to mention. Blanche has not seen Ken for three years when she comes east to visit her parents during their vacation in the north country at her mother's original home. Ken, working near there for the summer, meets Blanche and they spend five days together. Blanche returns to Los Angeles, and shortly after, her engagement to a Hollywood producer is announced in the newspaper. The announcement is a publicity stunt. Blanche is concerned Ken will do something violent.