The Limit (27 page)

It’s going to take a while, but my family is getting there. We have a huge mountain of debt we have to dig out from under, but if we all try our best, we should be able to keep Abbie from having to come to the workhouse. I most likely won’t get out until I turn eighteen, and I’m learning to accept—or at least deal—with that. I hope to do better for Lauren.

A shaggy blond head popped up over the top-floor computer on the table across from me.

“Today’s the day, bro! Paddle-wall-ball!”

“I’m going to smash you this time, Coop.”

“In your dreams, dude.”

Hardly. Of all the things I fantasize about, winning at paddle-wall-ball is not even in the top one hundred. I dream about going to college—and doing it on a sweet scholarship so my personal account will remain debt-free—and traveling around the world, far away from this workhouse, and sitting down to dinner with my entire family. Mom will make meat loaf.

It will happen—all of it. Eventually. For now I’ve decided to be happy with the life I have, even though it’s not the life I thought I’d have a year ago. I’m making the best of things. I’m smart. Smart enough to be a Top Floor, even though I choose not to be one. The possibilities the future holds for me are limitless.