One-Cut Queen

“My name is Eli Vance, and in my world, everything has a price. I lived in a small, sagging house that perpetually smelled of stale beer and disappointment, a stark contrast to the academic potential I desperately cultivated. Every cent I secretly earned from doing other kids' homework was a deliberate step away from a future my parents had already planned for me: a grueling factory job. My younger brother, Cody, was their sole focus, their "lottery ticket," and his mediocre athletic career consumed every last ounce of their hope and meager funds. Then, one evening, they finally showed me attention-enough to deliver their verdict. "You're sixteen now," my father grunted, avoiding my gaze. "The plant is hiring full-time," my mother chimed in, her voice sharp, "You can quit school. We need the money for Cody's gear and his camp fees." My heart turned into a cold, hard stone in my chest as their words extinguished my last flickering hope for a different life. "What do you have? Books?" my mother sneered, dismissing my intelligence, my ambition, everything I was. My father sealed it with a flat gaze: "You'll do what you're told," effectively erasing my future to fund a pair of football cleats. The suffocating injustice burned a hole within me-this town, this school, my own family; it was all the same oppressive system. They saw me as a burden, a cost, a ready-made sacrifice, but I refused to accept that. How could they demand I relinquish my education, my only path to escape, for a futile dream that wasn't even mine? I couldn't fight my parents head-on, not yet, but watching the cafeteria manager's blatant favoritism, I knew exactly how to break a smaller, visible cog in this unfair machine. The battle for my freedom, and my future, had just begun-a ruthless, calculated game where I would stop at nothing to change the rules.”