Free Kick: In the hallways and between the lines, nothing is free. - Tapa blanda

Sinopsis

A freshman. At striker. Starting. Nobody asked if she was ready.

Nia Okonkwo has known every divot of the Cross County field since she was twelve. Freshman year, she starts where freshmen start: on JV, watching Priya Desai own the striker spot on varsity.

Then Priya goes down, and Coach Osei calls Nia to the office. No tune-up. No runway. Just a varsity locker room full of older girls deciding what they think of her.

Three good games. Then the goals stop coming. Then, right before halftime against Maplewood Prep, a routine free kick sails high and wide.

"Belonging to a place doesn't mean the place will always cooperate."

The field isn't the only place keeping score. In the hallways, Chloe Mason and her crew have already decided who Nia is. Homecoming brings a slow dance she never saw coming. And with her best friend Belle beside her on every bus, the postseason is running straight into basketball tryouts.

How much will it cost to keep a spot she was handed?

Free Kick is Book Two of CCS Stories, set at Cross County Schools in the same fall as Oh-No, Tito — same building, same season, a different kid finding out what pressure actually costs. You don't need to have read Book One first; Nia's story stands on its own.

For readers who:

• Love YA sports fiction that takes the game as seriously as the friendships around it


• Want a soccer story with a real yips arc — not a magically-fixed one


• Are drawn to freshman-year books about being handed more than you're ready for


• Already know Cross County from Oh-No, Tito and want to see the same fall from someone else's side of the building

The Cross County Schools world so far:

• Book One: Oh-No, Tito — a junior guard, thirty-one percent from the line, and a whole gym that knows it


• Book Two (this book): Free Kick — a freshman striker with no runway and a season that won't stay quiet

Not every story in CCS Stories ends the way you want it to. This one doesn't resolve everything either — some of it's still Nia's to carry into next season.

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