Nothing he did looked awkward or ordinary. Even breathing looked cool. Even blinking looked intentional.
The crowd didn't just see a boy walking onto a court—they saw a moment being carved into memory.
Landon and Brian flanked him—his boys, his teammates, the ones who'd stuck with him when everyone else had written him off.
They walked with their own confidence, feeding off whatever impossible energy Phei was projecting, looking like they belonged on that court even though every odd in the world said they didn't—the kind of belonging that comes from choosing the losing side and deciding it's still worth dying for.
The crowd stayed silent.
Stunned.
What the hell are we looking at?
The question hung unspoken in the air. Because this wasn't the charity case they'd been promised. This wasn't the nobody who was supposed to get crushed by Legacy royalty... the online pictures they'd seen made no justice, The students just couln't get enough. This was something else entirely.
