Chapter 2

A few minutes later, another car pulled up. It was Coach Henderson. He must have heard from the scout. His face was lit up with a huge grin as he got out of his car.

"Maya! The scout called me! She was blown away! Said she' s never seen a talent like you. The university is preparing the official offer right now!"

He saw the look on my face, the tears, the way I was holding my arm. His smile vanished.

"What' s wrong? What happened?"

Leo stepped out onto the porch, blocking the doorway. He held out the same folded document.

"You should see this, Coach," Leo said.

Coach Henderson took the paper, his brow furrowed in confusion. He read it. He read it again. The color drained from his face. He looked up from the paper, not at Leo, but at me. The pride in his eyes was gone. Replaced by the same pity I' d seen in my neighbors' faces.

He folded the paper carefully and handed it back to Leo.

"Maya," he said, his voice hollow. "Maybe Leo is right."

"What? Coach, no. You don' t understand."

"Forget basketball," he said, his voice firm, like a judge passing a sentence. "It' s not for you. You should think about community college. Get a vocational degree. Something practical. Something quiet."

He wouldn' t meet my eyes. He just got back in his car and drove away, leaving a cloud of dust and the wreckage of my dream hanging in the air.

I stared at the taillights until they disappeared. The man who had been my biggest champion, my mentor, had just abandoned me.

I turned to Leo, my body shaking with a pain that had nothing to do with the belt.

"What is that paper?" I whispered. "What does it say?"

He just shook his head, his face a mask of misery. "It' s to protect you, Maya. It' s all to protect you."

He tried to guide me back inside, but I collapsed on the porch steps, the world spinning around me. The beating was bad, but the betrayal was worse. It felt like the whole world had conspired to trap me here.

The last thing I remembered was the sound of a distant siren growing closer.