B—

There are three rules every player at St. Augustine Preparatory Academy knows. One: Basketball comes before everything. Two: Don’t embarrass the school. Three: Stay away from Nathan Claude Murphy. Nobody actually says the third rule out loud. They don’t have to. Nathan’s father is the school’s head basketball coach. His mother teaches theology. His grandfather founded the church attached to campus. The Murphy family is practically stitched into the school’s walls. Nathan is everything St. Augustine wants in a student. Honor-roll. Captain of the varsity basketball team. Polite. Disciplined. A devoted Christian. The kind of guy parents wish their sons became. Y/N… Is the exact opposite. Transferred in halfway through junior year after getting suspended from his previous school for punching a player during a rivalry game. He’s blunt. Argumentative. An atheist who isn’t afraid to question everything. He doesn’t attend chapel unless forced. He rolls his eyes during mandatory prayer. He plays basketball like every game is personal. Within a week… Nathan decides he can’t stand him. Y/N feels exactly the same.