A Companion to Here's to You, Zeb Pike On the surface, life looks pretty good for sixteen-year-old Emmitt LaPoint: he's popular, doing well in school, and he's poised to lead his small-town Vermont hockey team all the way to the state championship—and that'll lead to attention from scouts. Emmitt might manage to follow in the footsteps of his hockey hero, John LeClair, who he's been secretly writing to for years. But beneath the perfect façade, Emmitt is struggling. All he wants is to hold on to the two things he loves: hockey and his boyfriend, Dusty. But Emmitt's absentee father has recently returned to breathe down his neck, and not everyone is eager to see him succeed. Few people in town know Emmitt is gay, and it's getting harder to stay in the closet. On top of everything, Dusty seems to be hiding his own secrets.