Chapter 1

First Quarter

Finley 10 years old

I rushed home from school, just like every day, but today was extra special. My brother Konner and his best friend Colton had basketball tryouts. I couldn't wait to see what team they made. I knew they would make the A-team for the 7th grade. They were the best players in town.

I ran straight up to my room and pulled the box out from under my bed. I had been working on congratulation cards for them. I pulled them out of the box and shook off the glitter that didn't stick and went to my desk. I opened it up and grabbed the black marker.

"Congratulations Konner on making the A team. I knew you would do it. Love Fin." I wrote inside the card for my brother.

I put his to the side and grabbed Colt's card. His had more glitter on it and I also spent a lot more time on it. He was so cute and I just wanted him to like it. I opened it up and wrote, "Colt, congratulations on making the A team. You're the best player ever. Love, Fin."

I heard them come in the front door and they were talking so loudly. I grabbed the cards and ran downstairs. They were both standing in front of the fridge looking for food. 

"Did you make the team?" I asked excitedly as I held the cards behind my back.

"Did you think we wouldn't Finny?" Colt asked. I hated it when he called me that. It made me feel like a baby. 

"I knew you would, see," I said and shoved the cards at both of them. They both grabbed them and Konner opened it and then threw it on the counter, but when I looked at Colt, he had the biggest grin on his face. 

"Thanks, kiddo." He said and messed up my hair and followed my brother to the pantry. 

"Skip the food, we need to go practice. We have our first game in two weeks," Konner finally said. 

"Can I come?" I asked with hope in my eyes. 

"I guess, but no crying if you lose," Konner said. 

I turned and ran to my bedroom as fast as I could. I needed to change and put my basketball shoes on. My mom hated that I played and was just as obsessed with it as my brother. She wouldn't come to my games or take me to practice. It was either our nanny or my dad. She said she couldn't support something a girl shouldn't do and if I wanted to dance or be a cheerleader she would be my biggest fan. I was used to disappointing her by now, so it didn't even bother me. 

I ran outside to the court, and they were already doing layup drills. I grabbed my ball off the rack and started following them. I had just learned how to get the ball high enough to make the shot and was getting progressively better. I wanted to be the best girl player our town had ever seen. 

"Finny, you need to practice on the left side also." Konner yelled at me as they stopped and got water. I groaned but went to the other side and missed every shot. After about ten I gave up and went over to where our water was. Konner walked off, leaving me with Colt. 

"You need softer hands. You are throwing the ball up there, it needs to glide up there." Colt said and I hung onto his words. "Don't force it. You never want to force anything."

I nodded my head and grabbed the ball and went back to the hoop and tried again and I really tried to get it into the basket, but I still missed. 

"Finley, softer hands," Konner yelled at me. I grabbed my ball feeling defeated and moved onto free throws with them. These were hard for me because I used the same distance; they did, though in youth league they had the line moved up. I wanted to be like them. I wanted to be as good as them and so I had to work just as hard as them. 

"Finley Anne James, get inside right now," my mom yelled from the back porch. Both boys snickered, but I grabbed my ball, put it back on the rack, and slowly dragged myself back to the house. I already knew what was coming and so I went as slowly as possible. I walked the long way through our backyard and around the pool twice and finally to the back door. 

I pushed the sliding glass door open and stepped into the kitchen. Our nanny was standing there holding Konner's card. "This was very sweet of you Finley." 

"Thanks. Where is my mom?"

"In the sitting room, waiting for you."

I dragged my feet going as slow as possible. I hated how much she pushed me to be this cute little princess, and I wanted to just be a tomboy. I didn't care about looking pretty or wearing dresses. It was awful enough that we had to go to a private school that made us wear uniforms and girls had to wear these horrible skirts while guys could wear pants or shorts and we couldn't wear either. I hated it but my father says that we get an advantage in life because he can afford it. 

"Yes, mom," I asked when I walked into the room. 

"What have I told you about following your brother around and doing the same thing as him?"

"It's what I like to do also."

"Well, you're not a little boy. You're a little girl and little girls don't play those kinds of sports. Now go to the

bathroom and brush that rat's nest out of your hair and try on the dress that I got you for this weekend."

"WHAT? Why do I have to wear a dress this weekend?"

"Because your cousin is getting married and my daughter will not go looking like some damn boy. No go."

This was worse than missing every left-handed

layup. My shoulders fell knowing not to argue with her; it would do me no good. I would never win. I walked out of the room and up the stairs to my bedroom. 

I slammed my door in protest and grabbed the hair brush off my vanity and walked over to my window seat. I pulled my hair out of its ponytail and watched out the window. I had the perfect view of Konner and Colt playing basketball.

I watched as Colt ran up and down the court. His long wavy chestnut brown hair flopped down in his eyes and when he stopped, he would run his hands through it and push it off his forehead. When he did that, it gave me butterflies in my stomach and I didn't know why.

I heard my door open and when I turned around expecting my mom because she loved nothing more than torturing me by brushing out my hair, but it was my nanny. Her name was Paula and she was an older woman who was very sweet. She seemed to understand what I wanted to do, and she would help me sneak past my mom sometimes. 

"Let me help you with that rat's nest." She said, and we both snickered because she was making fun of my mom. 

I held the brush up and let her start combing through it. She was gentle about it and never said anything about it. My mom always had some form of criticism about it. It was dirty, it was tangled, it had split ends because I always wore it in a pony. 

"Finley, let me give you some advice. You are never going to be the person your mother wants you to be and that is OK, you don't have to be but if you gave her a little of what she wants maybe she would give you a little of what you want too."

Saturday evening, I came down the stairs in the dress my mom had gotten me. Along with a stupid pair of dress shoes. The dress was black and sparkly and had a sparkly silver belt on it. The only good thing about it was the fact that it wasn't long and if I had the chance to play I would. It wouldn't trip me up. My mom had come up and curled my long hair and put in a matching headband. I felt so uncomfortable in it, but I didn't have a choice. 

"Whoa you look like an actual girl," Konner said, looking at me. 

"Shut up Konnie."

"Don't call me that."

"Both of you knock it off, we need to leave," my father scolded both of us. He was more understanding than my mother, but he was never around. He worked all the time. 

After the longest ceremony in the world, we moved outside to the reception and after a threat from my mom I was left alone. I wandered around the grounds and found my brother and Colt throwing a ball into an empty garbage can. 

"Wow Finny, you look like a girl." Colt said and gave me a smirk. 

"That's because I am a girl, Colleen." I said and gave him that same smirk. They both hated when I called them by the girl names I gave them. I only used them when they made me feel bad about being a girl. 

"Think fast," Colt said and before I could even look up, I was smacked right in the face with the ball. There was an audible crunch noise and then my screams. My hands went up to my nose, and I could feel the blood pouring out of it. I couldn't

see because tears filled my eyes.

"Why did you do that Colton?" My brother screamed at him. 

"It was an accident."

"Help me get her to our mom," Konner said but that was the last place I wanted to go. I tried to tell them no, but I was crying too hard and I was covered in blood.

I could hear the gasp of people as we walked through the reception. My vision hadn't cleared up by the time we found our parents. 

"Oh, dear lord, what happened to you?"

"I'm," Colt started to say but I cut him off. I didn't want him to get into trouble. "I fell and hit my nose, it's broken," I cried. I tried to look up at Colt, but my vision was too blurry. 

My mom pulled my hands away and I felt the blood soak in my dress. "Someone get me some towels and some ice," my mom barked out.

"Honey, we need to take her to the ER." I heard my father say, and I knew that I would never live this down. 

"This is why you need to act like a little girl," she started to scold me, but my father grabbed her arm, "Not here, not now." He said in a whisper, but I heard him. 

They shoved me into a chair and tilted my head back, and someone shoved a towel on my face and ice over the top of it. I sat there for a few minutes trying to get the bleeding to stop but it wasn't, but my vision was starting to clear up. I could see Colt standing behind my parents looking worried and so was Konner. 

"Come on Finny girl, let's take you to the doctor to see if they can help you," my father said, scooping me off the chair. 

"There is no help for this child," I heard my mother say but I ignored her. 

"Can I just go home with Colt?" Konner asked as we walked away. Of course, he was allowed to stay because he got everything he wanted because he was a boy and not a girl. I didn't hold it against him most of the time.