“Thanks, Dad. Coach Naughton was impressed.” His nostrils flare with the mention of Coach Naughton, and I cough to hide my laugh. Coach Naughton may be the best of the best but there’s one thing she’s not—a man. And in my dad’s eyes, the lack of an appendage between her legs is always going to hold her back from measuring up. It eats him up that I want to work with her so badly.

“I saw you speaking to her. Did she mention your dribbling in that first play?” Of course, he wants to know if she spoke about my shortcomings, not my strengths.

“Yes, she said it needs some work.” His tongue touches the inside of his cheek at this. He doesn’t want to admit it, but he’s pleased. I won’t waste my time explaining that she didn’t dwell on my shortcomings or make me feel like it outshined my talent. That I didn’t want to hang up my cleats after speaking with her. No, it’s best that he thinks his self-appointed coaching rival agrees with him on where I fall short.

Olivia

Sixteen Years Old

“Oh my God, get over!” Auntie yelps, gripping the ceiling handles in the car for dear life. I swerve lanes and then slam my foot against the brake, and Kai makes a dramatic show of banging his shoulder against the back of my seat.

I turn and glare at him when he breaks into a full belly laugh. “It’s not funny.”

A horn honks behind us. “Pull the hell over, girl! Worried about Kai’s ass when you bout to kill us all!”

“Yes, ma’am.” I pull over to the side of the quiet street and wait for Auntie to catch her breath.

To be fair, for a newbie I’m a pretty decent driver. That turn just got away from me. I tried to fix it but ended up in oncoming traffic, but I got us back in the right lane before that truck got too close. She should be proud of me.

Auntie finishes what was an awfully long silent prayer and then levels me with a look that tells me today’s driving lesson is over. “Get out of the car, Liv. I will drive us home.”

“I can drive us home, Auntie.”

She holds her finger up to him with her eyes closed. “Boy, my nerves have been played with enough for the day.”

She gets out of the car and Kai laughs again. “Ima start calling you Tokyo Drift.”

“You better not! Stupid-ass movie.” Kai still hasn’t stopped laughing about how much I hated that movie when I loved the first two so much. As far as I’m concerned the series ended with 2 Fast 2 Furious.

He starts to tease me some more but he’s interrupted by Auntie banging on the hood, telling me to get my ass to the passenger side.