Chapter 1

The sweat on the back of my neck felt cold. I crouched low, dribbling the basketball on the cracked asphalt behind the high school gym. The sound was a steady, rhythmic thud against the silence of the evening.

This was my third chance. My last chance.

The first time, it was Duke. A full ride. The papers were on the kitchen table, waiting for my signature. My brother, Leo, had looked at them, his face unreadable. That night, he' d locked me in my room. The deadline came and went while I screamed and pounded on the door. He told me later it was for my own good.

The second time, a year later, it was a major tournament. Scouts from UCLA and Stanford were in the stands just for me. The night before, Leo made me a glass of water. Said I needed to be hydrated. I woke up sixteen hours later, the tournament long over. He' d used sleeping pills.

Now, I was smarter.

My coach, Mr. Henderson, had set this up. A private tryout with a top scout. He believed in me. He was the closest thing I had to a father since the accident that took our parents.

I had a spare key hidden under a loose brick by the porch. I told Leo I was turning in early, exhausted from practice. I faked sleep until I heard the groan of his old pickup truck starting up for his night shift at the plant.

Then I moved.

I slipped out, ran the two miles to the gym, and played the game of my life. The scout, a woman with sharp eyes and a clipboard, just nodded.

"We' ll be in touch, Maya," she said. "Don' t worry."

I knew what that meant. I had it.

The walk home was euphoric. For the first time, I felt like I was breathing free air. This was it. The ticket out of this rust-eaten town, away from the poverty that clung to us like soot.

I unlocked the front door.

Leo was sitting in the dark, waiting.

He didn' t say a word. He just stood up. In his hand was the thick leather work belt he wore at the plant.

"Where were you?" he asked, his voice low and dead.

"I had a tryout, Leo. I got it. I think I got another offer."

He took a step forward. "I told you to stop this."

"It' s my life!" I yelled, my voice cracking. "You can' t keep doing this to me!"

He raised the belt. The first strike caught me across the shoulders, and a hot, sharp pain seared through my shirt. I stumbled back, crying out.

He didn' t stop.

My screams were loud in the small, quiet house. They must have carried, because soon there was pounding on the front door.

"Leo? Maya? Is everything okay in there?" It was our neighbor, Mrs. Gable.

Leo stopped, his chest heaving. He walked to the door and opened it. Mrs. Gable and her husband stood on the porch, their faces tight with concern.

"Just a family disagreement," Leo said, his voice strained.

"We heard screaming," Mr. Gable said, trying to peer past Leo' s shoulder at me.

Leo reached into his back pocket and pulled out a folded, worn piece of paper. A legal document. He handed it to them.

I watched their faces as they read it. Concern melted away, replaced by something else. Pity. And fear.

Mrs. Gable wouldn' t look at me. She handed the paper back to Leo.

"You should listen to your brother, Maya," she said, her voice soft and sad. "Give up on these foolish dreams."

They turned and walked away, leaving me alone with him again.