Chapter 1

The dread felt old, a familiar weight in my chest.

It always came before the National STEM Innovators Challenge.

This year, it was heavier.

My little brother, Leo, needed this.

His rare genetic condition, a monster devouring our family' s money, needed this prize.

Experimental treatment was our only hope, and it cost a fortune.

I remembered this day, this exact feeling.

A past life, maybe.

I saw myself at the starting line of the Challenge, full of plans.

Then Tiff Harrington, always Tiff.

She beat me.

Not by a lot, always by exactly ten points.

Round after round.

That loss, it broke us. Leo got worse.

The memory was sharp, a wound that never healed.

Then I blinked.

The school auditorium buzzed.

It was the start of the STEM Challenge. Again.

My heart hammered. A second chance.

Leo' s small, hopeful face flashed in my mind.

This time, things had to be different.

I had to make them different.

His life depended on it.

I took a deep breath, the air tasting of floor wax and nervous sweat.

Hope, fragile but fierce, flickered inside me.

I would not fail him again.