Breakthrough

By A. L. Priest

Efram is new to Troy, Ohio, a town where football is everything. And as soon as he sets foot in Troy Central High, the school's head coach takes notice of Efram's perfect football build. Suddenly Efram is gearing up for practice—even though he has never played the game.

Flick is too small to run for a touchdown or sack a quarterback. And with his mohawk and outsider attitude, he's not exactly a team player. But he notices things on the football field that most people can't see. When Flick and Efram team up, they'll show Troy Central High a whole new way to win.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Open Road Integrated Media
• Release date: Aug 1, 2014
• ISBN: 9781467774161

Book preview

1/MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 9—THE MORNING OF EFRAM’S FIRST DAY AT TROY CENTRAL

It’s one thousand five hundred and eighty-nine miles to Blink, Arizona, Efram thought. But it seems like a world away. All my friends are gone.

He slung his backpack over his shoulder, grabbed the last piece of toast from his plate, kissed his mom goodbye, and went out into the morning light.

His mother placed the plates from their breakfast in the kitchen sink and followed him. As Efram retrieved his mountain bike from the garage, Lillian James called out to her son from the front stoop.

Wear your helmet! she said.

It’s just five miles, Mom.

People in this town drive crazy, she said. She looked up and down the street as if an out-of-control car was going to careen down the block and flatten her son. Wear it.

All right, all right, Efram said.

Just because you’re as big as a rhinoceros now doesn’t mean a car can’t kill you, she said.

I’m gonna look ridiculous the very first day of school. It’s bad enough we moved here after classes had already started.

You’d look more ridiculous dead. She raised her arms and moaned like a zombie.

Please, Mom, Efram said. Please stop. You’re embarrassing me.

She looked around. How can you be embarrassed when there’s no one else around?

It’s easy when you act like that.

Har de har har. That’s so funny I forgot to laugh, she said.

I’m not a kid anymore.

No, she said, smiling. No, you’re not. You’re a giant.

Efram jogged back inside the house, nabbed the helmet from the front hall closet, and dashed back out to the lawn. He stooped to give his mom another kiss on the cheek as he passed and then fastened the helmet around his chin. There was no arguing with Mom when it came to safety. She was safety crazy.

It’s first day of school, Efram, his mom said. Remember, the impressions you make today will follow you for the rest of the year.

Let me put on my tuxedo, he responded.

I’m talking about attitude! she said.

He swung his leg over the seat of his new bike. The largest one the local bike store had had and the only luxury his mother allowed him since their move to Troy, Ohio.

Cycling was the perfect time for Efram to think. Something about the pumping of his legs, the speed, put him in a pensive mood. He took out his iPhone and queued up Brilliant Miscreants, his favorite band. When the pulsing rhythms and electric guitars filled his head, he was ready to ride.

The only good thing about divorced parents is my iPhone, Efram thought. He shoved off and began pedaling.

The move across country had been hard at first. The seasons were different in Ohio. All this greenery was absolutely murderous—trees, shrubs, and grasses that wanted to kill him with their pollen. His mother had forced him to go to the doctor, who prescribed some sort of antihistamine. Mesas in the New Mexico desert had been dry and clean. The air was fresh and devoid of tree gunk. When Efram had hiked or cycled or rock-climbed, the light was almost hypnotizing.

And all my friends are there, he thought.

He was sweating heavily when he arrived at Troy Central. The impressions you make today will follow you for the rest of the year. Those words echoed in his head as he removed the bicycle helmet, tried to un-mess his helmet hair, and locked up his bike at the rack in front of the school.

A group of teens watched him from the shade of a massive oak tree. One of the girls giggled as he fumbled taking off his bike’s seat.

Realizing his earbuds were still in blasting Brilliant Miscreants, he unkeyed his iPhone, turned off the music, and looked at the time.

It was eight o’clock on his first day of school.

Efram James took a deep breath, held it, and then walked up the