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talking . . .”
    Troy looked over, straining his eyes to read Ty’s face. His stomach sank when Ty looked down.
    â€œWe’re gonna pass.” Thane clasped his hands, laid them into his lap like an unread book, and looked directly at Seth. “I’m sorry.”
    Troy tried to cap his fury, but the lid had already been sprung. “I’m supposed to help your team win? You do this to us and I’m supposed to tell you what the defenses are doing so you can go to the Super Bowl , and you won’t even let Ty be on our team ?”
    Troy could see two things immediately. First, that his outburst had shocked his mom so much she didn’t know what to say, and second, that everyone else was embarrassed. Troy folded his arms across his chest, ready to stand by his words.
    Ty looked up and blinked, as if he was innocent.
    Troy tried to keep quiet, but he burned with rage and he got in Ty’s face. “Like you didn’t know, right? Let’s go out on the WaveRunners . . . buddy . . . cousin . Let’s have a good time. Oh, by the way, you don’t mind if I ruin your football season, right?
    â€œThanks a lot, Ty. Nice friend. Did you text this to Tate?”
    â€œTroy, that’s enough !” Troy’s mom gripped his neck in the vise of her fingers and drew him away.
    â€œIt’s a lot of things.” Thane turned around in his seat, keeping his voice calm and quiet. “Let’s not get crazy. St. Stephen’s was always the plan. Things changed and now they’re all mixed up. Ty’s had a lot of upheaval. Things aren’t always as simple as we’d like them to be.”
    Thane looked around. “Hey, we’re still family. We can still do things like today. We should.”
    Seth held out a hand for Thane to shake. “I understand completely. Troy will, too. Sometimes he’s a hothead.”
    Everyone looked at Troy. His mind was spinning from all the reasons Ty should be in Summit: their friendship, spending more time around Tate—if that was as important as it seemed—their chemistry on the field, and most of all how if Troy had Chuku and Ty to throw deep to, no team could double-cover them. Troy’s mom sharpened her already furious eyes and squeezed the blood from her lips, setting her head on a crooked angle toward him and prompting him to say the right thing.
    Troy held out a hand to Ty. “Sure. I understand. Maybe next year something will work out.”
    The look Ty gave him—one of sorrow, pain, and disappointment—flooded Troy with guilt, but only for an instant.
    â€œTraitor,” Troy whispered. He couldn’t stand to even look at Thane as he slipped out of the truck.
    Troy’s mom, on the other hand, leaned forward and gave Thane a kiss on the cheek, whispering something Troy couldn’t hear before she got out on the other side.
    Ty looked up, his face heavy with shame, and gave Troy a fleeting glance before climbing into the front seat. Troy figured he wasn’t the only one affected by the news, because they all stood there in the silent darkness watching the enormous truck swim up the street until it glimmered one final time and disappeared in the murk.
    â€œWell.” Seth tossed that single word out into the night and let it hang there.
    That’s when Troy’s phone rang.
    Troy fished it from his pocket and read the glowing screen. “It’s Chuku.”
    â€œHey, maybe we’ll get lucky.” Seth put a hand on Troy’s shoulder. “One out of two wouldn’t be bad.”
    Troy’s fingers trembled and he fumbled with the phone before he answered the call.

CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
    â€œHEY, DAWG.” TROY COULDN’T read Chuku’s voice. He knew that whatever Chuku said next might determine the success or failure of the football season, maybe even have a lasting effect on Troy’s entire career.
    Troy took a breath, trying