His mom, Vivian, on the other hand, read all the articles and heard all the expert commentators saying how bad her son was. But she knew, down deep, that her son was driven and that he had an uncommon focus. The same focus that, at age 13, led Heyward-Bey to tell his mom that he had to leave his home and the "peer pressure" of Silver Spring, Md., and go to boarding school.