Page 306 of Ruthless Court

It sounds bigger once it’s outside my head.

“I want kids who get overlooked.”

Hannah’s attention sharpens.

“Not just athletes.”

I lean forward, elbows on my knees.

“The kid sitting in the back of class while some teacher decides he’s lazy because numbers don’t click fast enough.”

Her eyes stay on me.

“The kid who shows up to tryouts and watches the coach’s son get point guard even though he can’t dribble with his left.”

Hannah smiles faintly.

“Daddy ball.”

“Exactly.”

“The worst.”

“The kid whose parents can’t afford private training. Who doesn’t have someone making calls. Who plays on a cracked court because the travel program costs six grand.”

The old anger rises.

Not ugly.

Useful.

“That does something to you, Hannah.”

She waits.

“It creates a fire.”

My voice drops.

“You have no idea what it feels like when someone decides what your ceiling is before you even understand there is one.”

Her eyes change.

I stop.

Actually look at her.

Maybe she does know.

“I want to find those kids,” I say. “Academic scholarships. Athletic scholarships. Tutors. Coaches who aren’t picking teams based on somebody’s last name.”

Her lips part slightly.

“I want them to walk into rooms people told them weren’t built for them.”

The words keep coming now.

“I want some kid whose teacher told him he’d never amount to anything to graduate college.”