Page 1 of The Way We Score

PROLOGUE

Garrett

“You’re still reading that book?” My little sister Dylan plops down beside me on the lawn separating the two buildings of our high school. “You’ve had it a month.”

“I thought it would be more interesting, you know, being monsters and all.” I groan, turning the skinny paperback copy ofFrankensteinin my hands. “It’s all thoughts and feelings and boring as hell.”

It’s spring, although it’s still early enough in the year to be cool in the afternoons in south Alabama—meaning it’s mid-80s with a light, coastal breeze. I’ve got my back against a sprawling live oak that’s probably one hundred years old, and I look up at the two-story, brick buildings surrounding us.

On the south side are the seventh through ninth-grade classes, and on the west are the sophomores through seniors.

Dylan’s finishing her freshman year, and she’s acting all superior. She’s at the top rung of a mid-level holding pen just waiting to move to the bottom again.

I’m at the very top, graduating senior, fielding offers fromcolleges that will give me a free ride, regardless of my grades, just as long as I join the team and take them to the national championships.

Hell, some are even offering me under the table deals.

None of it matters, though. I’m going to Tuscaloosa, where I’ll be a starting offensive lineman for the Alabama Crimson Tide.

I glance at the door-stop in her hand. “What’s that you’re reading?”

“The newest Dragon Lovers book.” She does a little shiver, opening the black book covered in gold, swirling letters and elaborate borders to the middle. “It’s not boringat all.”

I hold my skinny book next to hers, and she’s already read two times as much as I have. “Damn, Dee. What makes you such a nerd? If you came at me with that thing, I’d run.”

“I’m not a nerd!” She shoves my shoulder as hard as she can, but I don’t move.

Dylan is five-foot-four, and with all the ballet dancing she does, she weighs about fifteen pounds soaking wet. I’m clocking in at six-foot-four, 250 pounds if I don’t stop eating.

I never stop eating.

“IsFrankensteineven 200 pages long?” She squints an eye at me. “Wimp.”

“I’m not like you and Zane. I don’t like to read.”

“I think you haven’t found the right book.” She gets on her knees getting all excited like she does. “Reading is like movies in your head, only you get to decide how everyone sounds and looks and?—”

“Whatever.”

She exhales a little laugh. “You’re graduating soon. Just DNF it.”

“What’s that?”

“Did Not Finish.”

“What? I’m no quitter. I’m going to finish this thing.” I liftthe skinny book and slowly read each word on the page. “He’s so damn whiny.”

Nothing is so painful to the human mind as a great and sudden change…

Shrugging, I guess that’s true for some people, but I’ve always been one to roll with the punches, like the tide.

And our family has been hit with some hard changes, starting with the death of our mom a few years ago. It hurt like hell, but watching her suffer through cancer hurt more.

We held onto each other through that big wave. Then our dad died of a broken heart soon after, although there were pretty clear signs of chronic traumatic encephalopathy or CTE, the “football disease.” We didn’t realize how much Mom had covered for him until she was gone.

He was never officially diagnosed, but our dad spent years as the star quarterback for the Texas Mustangs. He took a lot of hits before he retired and moved his little family to this small town on the coast. My two youngest siblings weren’t even born yet.

Losing both of them so fast was like trying to survive a Category 5 hurricane, which we’ve also done here. Our little community banded around us like they always do, helping our family stay together through the storm surge.

---