Chapter 2

The next evening, they cornered me in the kitchen. It was the most attention they' d paid me all week.

"Eli," my father started, not looking at me. He was looking at a spot on the greasy wall behind me. "You're sixteen now."

"The plant is hiring," my mother said, her voice sharp. "Full time. You can quit school. We need the money."

"For Cody's gear," my father added. "And his summer camp fees."

I just stared at them. My heart was a cold, hard stone in my chest. They weren't asking. They were telling me. My future, my escape, was being erased for a pair of football cleats.

"No," I said. The word was quiet, but it filled the small kitchen.

My mother' s face tightened. "What did you say? Don't be selfish, Elara. Your brother has a real chance. What do you have? Books?" She laughed, a short, ugly sound.

"I'm not quitting school," I said again, my voice stronger this time.

My father finally looked at me. His eyes were dull. "You'll do what you're told."

I walked out of the kitchen before they could say more. I went to my room and put my hand on the floorboard above my escape fund. They would take that too, if they found it.

The next day at school, the anger was still burning in me. I went to the cafeteria. The injustice of it all felt suffocating. My parents, this town, this school. It was all the same system.

I watched Ms. Patty at the lunch line. She beamed as she gave Nate an extra sausage patty. Then she turned to me, her smile vanishing. She slapped a single, sad-looking patty on my tray and pushed it along.

That's when I saw it. The opening.

I couldn't fight my parents. Not yet. They had all the power. But Ms. Patty? She was just a small gear in a small machine. And I knew how to break machines.

A plan started to form in my mind. It was risky. It was mean. But it was necessary.

I needed to change the game. And to do that, I had to stop playing by their rules. I looked over at the table where the school' s biggest gossip, Sarah, was sitting.

I knew exactly what to do.