“Have you told the tournament office what happened?” Brielle frowned. “Why would I do that?” “Because you were there.” “I’m trying to be nice.”

“Being nice would mean telling the truth.” Brielle stared at her as though the invitation were an insult. “You want to make a big issue out of it? Be my guest. Just don’t pretend you didn’t like the attention.” Imani felt heat rise into her face.

She reminded herself of the first day, of what her mother had said, and what the team had earned. “You can still say what you saw.” she replied. “There’s no crowd here. It doesn’t have to be a fight.” Brielle took a small step back.

Her jaw hardened. “You really think this whole tournament turns around you?” “No. That’s why I keep trying to play it.” Brielle walked away without answering. Imani watched her join Harper at the corridor to corner.

The two girls leaned close. Harper laughed once, but Brielle did not. She turned to glance at Imani’s bag where the school name had been painted by hand over a faded patch. When she looked away, something calculating had returned to her face. South Dock’s second-day group game was against a taller team from Ridgeview.

They had strong inside scoring and enough disciplined defenders to punish impatient guards. Imani spent the first half fighting herself. Each time she crossed midcourt, somebody shouted that she was scared of Brielle. Once she cut into the lane merely to prove them wrong and threw a wild pass straight into Ridgeview’s hands. Ward immediately brought her out.

“What did you want on that possession?” the coach asked. “To make them stop talking.” “And how did the pass help?” “It didn’t.” “What do we want instead?”

“A good shot.” “For whom?” “Whoever has it.” “Then find that player.” Imani returned to the floor and began looking for where Ridgeview’s taller center left her feet.

She stopped asking the crowd for permission to play. She played. Zora made two free throws. Marisol hit an open jumper. A younger guard called Mina, who had missed her first two tries, slipped under a screen and scored her first basket of the tournament.

South Dock won by five without any grand moment that could be cut into an impressive clip. Afterward Ward praised the team’s adjustment and put a clear line through the word hero on her whiteboard. “We didn’t need one,” she said. “We needed five people making the next right choice.” On their way out, Imani saw Harper and Lily standing over Brielle’s phone in the lobby.