forward.
âMine,â she said. âI am so sorry.â Before Maya knew it,words started pouring out of her mouth. âIt was a total accident, my phone fell in the ball machine and ⦠and I know the car is new and ⦠and it represents your big win at the tournament you just came from and, and thatâs so important, itâs so important to treat yourself after a job well done, and it was, it was a job well done, and â¦â
Nicole eyed her. If Maya hadnât felt like a freak before, she definitely did now.
âWhatâs the big deal?â Nicole said. âIâll just win another one next week.â It wasnât an insult. It wasnât a joke. It wasnât even a brag. It was the truth.
âSure,â Maya said, easing. âOf course you will. I mean, youâre Nicole King. Iâmââ Maya stepped forward to introduce herself, but before she could finish the sentence, Nicole simply handed the phone to someone else and walked off. Along the way, Nicole joined up with a couple members of her elite inner circle, Travis among them.
Maya was left sputtering.
Travis had witnessed her humiliation, which was a nightmare in and of itself. But even more scarring was what had gone down between her and Nicole. Maya was nothing more than a flea to Nicole, not even worth handing the phone back to directly. As the intermediary handed over the corpse of her cell and the crowd they had drawn started to disperse, Maya couldnât decide what was worse: making a horrible impression on her idol or making no impression at all.
Chapter 4
Maya hated surprises. When she was seven, her father dressed up as Santa Claus, and she dropped him with a punch to the groin. Since then, it was a pretty well-established understanding in the Hart household that Maya always needed advance warning.
For this reason, Maya challenged herself to a late-evening run around the entire campus. She wanted to familiarize herself with everything. Little did she know âeverythingâ was at least a half-marathon. Sure, sheâd researched the campus exhaustively online, but she had to pound the pavement, not just her keyboard, to really know it.
As impressive as the Academy was during the day, at night it was something else entirely. The palm trees were decorated with little white lights that twinkled in the gentle, warm breeze. The fountains trickled in the quiet. But if she listened hardenough, she could hear the distant sounds of music spilling out of dorm-room windows and bursts of laughter punctuating the calm.
Exhausted, Maya cut through the Administration building on her way back to her dorm. Outside the main office, she saw a familiar face. One she almost didnât recognize without her entourage.
Nicole.
Nicole was lingering outside the locked office door.
Maya couldnât backtrack. Not because that would be running away (the urge to run and hide was becoming second nature here), but because sheâd have to go all the way around the building, and her legs would not stay attached long enough to pull that off. So she pushed forward.
She had no idea what kind of greeting sheâd get from Nicole, if any. So she was downright floored when Nicole turned and not only recognized her, but actually brightened upon seeing her.
âYou,â Nicole said, smiling.
âNicole,â Maya said, seizing the opportunity to grovel. âI am so sorry about what happened earlââ
âYeah, yeah, yeah,â Nicole said. âIf you could do me a huge favor, we can call the car thing square.â
Now Maya brightened. âReally? Yeah, sure. Of course.â Maya could only imagine what she could possibly do for Nicole King. Give her a kidney? Give her an alibi? Whatever it was, sheâd do it.
âSee that framed poster in there?â Nicole pointed to a largeaction shot of herself on the court, ripping a vicious backhand. The look on her face was sheer
âMine,â she said. âI am so sorry.â Before Maya knew it,words started pouring out of her mouth. âIt was a total accident, my phone fell in the ball machine and ⦠and I know the car is new and ⦠and it represents your big win at the tournament you just came from and, and thatâs so important, itâs so important to treat yourself after a job well done, and it was, it was a job well done, and â¦â
Nicole eyed her. If Maya hadnât felt like a freak before, she definitely did now.
âWhatâs the big deal?â Nicole said. âIâll just win another one next week.â It wasnât an insult. It wasnât a joke. It wasnât even a brag. It was the truth.
âSure,â Maya said, easing. âOf course you will. I mean, youâre Nicole King. Iâmââ Maya stepped forward to introduce herself, but before she could finish the sentence, Nicole simply handed the phone to someone else and walked off. Along the way, Nicole joined up with a couple members of her elite inner circle, Travis among them.
Maya was left sputtering.
Travis had witnessed her humiliation, which was a nightmare in and of itself. But even more scarring was what had gone down between her and Nicole. Maya was nothing more than a flea to Nicole, not even worth handing the phone back to directly. As the intermediary handed over the corpse of her cell and the crowd they had drawn started to disperse, Maya couldnât decide what was worse: making a horrible impression on her idol or making no impression at all.
Chapter 4
Maya hated surprises. When she was seven, her father dressed up as Santa Claus, and she dropped him with a punch to the groin. Since then, it was a pretty well-established understanding in the Hart household that Maya always needed advance warning.
For this reason, Maya challenged herself to a late-evening run around the entire campus. She wanted to familiarize herself with everything. Little did she know âeverythingâ was at least a half-marathon. Sure, sheâd researched the campus exhaustively online, but she had to pound the pavement, not just her keyboard, to really know it.
As impressive as the Academy was during the day, at night it was something else entirely. The palm trees were decorated with little white lights that twinkled in the gentle, warm breeze. The fountains trickled in the quiet. But if she listened hardenough, she could hear the distant sounds of music spilling out of dorm-room windows and bursts of laughter punctuating the calm.
Exhausted, Maya cut through the Administration building on her way back to her dorm. Outside the main office, she saw a familiar face. One she almost didnât recognize without her entourage.
Nicole.
Nicole was lingering outside the locked office door.
Maya couldnât backtrack. Not because that would be running away (the urge to run and hide was becoming second nature here), but because sheâd have to go all the way around the building, and her legs would not stay attached long enough to pull that off. So she pushed forward.
She had no idea what kind of greeting sheâd get from Nicole, if any. So she was downright floored when Nicole turned and not only recognized her, but actually brightened upon seeing her.
âYou,â Nicole said, smiling.
âNicole,â Maya said, seizing the opportunity to grovel. âI am so sorry about what happened earlââ
âYeah, yeah, yeah,â Nicole said. âIf you could do me a huge favor, we can call the car thing square.â
Now Maya brightened. âReally? Yeah, sure. Of course.â Maya could only imagine what she could possibly do for Nicole King. Give her a kidney? Give her an alibi? Whatever it was, sheâd do it.
âSee that framed poster in there?â Nicole pointed to a largeaction shot of herself on the court, ripping a vicious backhand. The look on her face was sheer
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