Junkyard Dogs

Contents
 
 
 Cover
 Title Page
 Dedication
 Copyright
 Contents
 Chapter 01
 Chapter 02
 Chapter 03
 Chapter 04
 Chapter 05
 Chapter 06
 Chapter 07
 Chapter 08
 Chapter 09
 Chapter 10
 Chapter 11
 Chapter 12
 Chapter 13
 Chapter 14
 Chapter 15
 Chapter 16
 Chapter 17
 Chapter 18
 Chapter 19
 Chapter 20
 Chapter 21
 Chapter 22
 Chapter 23
 Chapter 24
 Chapter 25
 Chapter 26
 Chapter 27
 Chapter 28
 Chapter 29
 Chapter 30
 Chapter 31
 Chapter 32
 Chapter 33
 Chapter 34
 Chapter 35
 Chapter 36
 Chapter 37
 A Note from the Author
 About the Author
 Acknowledgments
 
 
 
 Guide
 
 Cover
 Contents
 Chapter 01
 
 
 
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 For Lynn Evans (who will always be Miss Consigny to me) and teachers like her, who create space for young writers.
 —K. H.-C.
 
 
 
 Published by Peachtree Teen
 An imprint of PEACHTREE PUBLISHING COMPANY INC.
 1700 Chattahoochee Avenue
 Atlanta, Georgia 30318-2112
 PeachtreeBooks.com
 Text © 2023 by Katherine Higgs-Coulthard 
 Cover illustration © 2023 by Lisa Marie Pompilio
 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means—electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, or any other—except for brief quotations in printed reviews, without the prior permission of the publisher.
 Jacket design by Adela Pons and Lily Steele
 Composition by Amnet Contentsource Private Limited
 Edited by Jonah Heller
 Printed and bound in January 2023 at Maple Press, York, PA, USA.
 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 
 First Edition
 ISBN: 978-1-68263-540-7
 Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available from the Library of Congress.
 
 
 Contents
 Chapter 01
 Chapter 02
 Chapter 03
 Chapter 04
 Chapter 05
 Chapter 06
 Chapter 07
 Chapter 08
 Chapter 09
 Chapter 10
 Chapter 11
 Chapter 12
 Chapter 13
 Chapter 14
 Chapter 15
 Chapter 16
 Chapter 17
 Chapter 18
 Chapter 19
 Chapter 20
 Chapter 21
 Chapter 22
 Chapter 23
 Chapter 24
 Chapter 25
 Chapter 26
 Chapter 27
 Chapter 28
 Chapter 29
 Chapter 30
 Chapter 31
 Chapter 32
 Chapter 33
 Chapter 34
 Chapter 35
 Chapter 36
 Chapter 37
 A Note from the Author
 About the Author
 Acknowledgments
 
 
 CHAPTER
 01
 TIME-OUT, WOLVES!” THE ANNOUNCER SHOUTS.
 Matt slaps my back and the guys sprint over. Coach leans in, jaw rigid, breath reeking of Twizzlers. “You got this, Josh. That’s your bucket.”
 The buzzer sounds and we jog back out onto the court. The ref straight-arms me the ball. I bounce it once. Whomp. Look at the scoreboard.
 75–74.
 Whomp, whomp. I let the ball become the slow, lazy pulse of the gym, let it drown out the yelling and jangling keys of Warsaw’s fans, who outnumber ours ten to one, even though we’re only an hour from home. Whomp. Whomp, whomp. Drown out the cheerleaders with their “Thir-TEE-two! Thir-TEE-two,” and Matt saying, “Come on, man, let it fly.” Just me and the beat of the ball.
 Whomp.
 Whomp, whomp.
 “Come on, Joshie!” a kid yells, and my eyes go right to where Twig would be—second row from the top. I almost convince myself I see him there, Dad right behind him, long arms draped over Twig like the shoulder harness of a roller coaster. I blink against the picture, but my mind puts Mom up there too, next to Dad, her hand over her eyes; she never could bear to watch me at the line, even back in the when, where this image belongs—back in middle school. Uncle Stan would be up there too, laughing at Mom and urging her to look, but she wouldn’t. Twig would blow a raspberry, try to crack me up. My lips curl at the almost memory.
 “Come on, Joshie! Nothing but net!” the kid shouts, and I see him—not Twig—just some random kid in the stands waving a poster board cutout of a Wolf wearing a Woodson High jersey. The ref snaps his fingers in my face, ripping a hole in the nostalgia