The Todd Killings

Aspiring 23-year-old musician Stephen Todd (Skipper to those who know him) leads a relatively-idle life, his only source of earned income being drug-dealing. His somewhat-indifferent adoptive mother willingly supports him financially while complaining about him not working, yet she will defend him to others. He generally hangs out with a large group of high-school teenagers, the girls who idolize him in his confidence, easy-going charm and good looks, he having casual sexual relationships with many of them; while the boys aspire to be him, hanging out with him in the hopes that some of his life will rub off on them. The latter category includes Billy Roy, a lost soul just released from a stint in reform school. Billy looks to Skipper for guidance in wanting a relationship with Amata, with whom he is in love, while Amata tolerates Billy only to be closer to Skipper. Even the girls who outwardly are standoffish to Skipper remain in the group, secretly wanting to be closer to him, most notably 16-year-old Roberta; Skipper's dogged pursuit of him ultimate spurs her to admit to him that she's in love with him. Some within this group of teens demonstrate their unconditional loyalty to Skipper by helping him, in an emotionally-detached way, to dispose of the body of 15-year-old Sue-Ellen Mack, who he murdered just because his idleness gave him too much time to think about things like that killing someone actually feels like.