Miteous Reese isn't your average teenager. Raised in a middle-class, two-parent household on the Northeast side of Omaha, Nebraska, with a school teacher mom, a hardworking father, and four siblings, he had every opportunity to make something of himself. But with a bad attitude and a taste for trouble, Miteous starts drifting toward the wrong crowd and attracting all the wrong energy.

Caught up in the allure of street life and the recognition that comes with being labeled a "bad boy," Miteous spirals deeper, earning a reputation he's not sure he wants. Only his best friend since kindergarten, Tayvaughn Kelly, knows the full truth. They've been inseparable for years, doing dirt together, keeping secrets only they share. When they get the opportunity to work for Booker, a slick local drug dealer and pawn shop owner, they think they've found the key to their come-up. Booker sees their hustle, loyalty, and hunger for the game, and puts them on to bigger, riskier jobs. But Booker's got his own enemies and secrets, and Miteous quickly learns the game is rigged, no matter how smart you play it. Trying to juggle school, football, love, and life on the streets, Miteous believes he can keep up the act-especially with the raw athletic talent passed down from his father, a former top high school recruit.

But when a party turns deadly and Tay is killed, Miteous is left with one impossible decision: Avenge his bestfriend's murder and stay trapped in the life forever or leave it all behind to go pursue his football dreams in hopes of potentially becoming the best there ever was or there never was...