Chapter 01
The American college scout had liked Ivan Braginski's skills enough to offer him a full scholarship to play basketball abroad in the United States. Despite being told that he would be playing against American-born players much taller than he and that the competition would be greater State-side, thus shrinking his chances of playing at the professional level, he had not cared. In fact, Ivan had taken the first offer made to him despite there being better ranked basketball programs whose scouts had not yet finished evaluating his skills.
The reason behind Ivan's hasty decision had to do with his desire to leave his life behind in Russia. Above all, he had wanted to escape the confines of the cramped little apartment in Kursk that had served as a home to him and his two sisters following the disappearance of his two parents. Thus, with a great weight off his shoulders Ivan boarded the plane bound for the United States and there to meet him at the airport would be his older sister, Katyusha, who was studying medicine at the same university that he would be playing for.
And so, Natalya Arlovskaya for the first time since she could remember found herself alone in their one-bedroom apartment with no older sister to pack her lunch and no brother to stalk. From what she had read in the e-mails they interchanged, it was painfully obvious Katyusha and Ivan had no desire to come back to the Motherland- not immediately, anyway. Rather than join her to celebrate the holidays at home in Kursk, they had paid for Natalya to travel the thousands of miles to the United States to do so. For two years she endured the loneliness of the academic year by slaving away at school and on extracurriculars so that she too, could some day earn a scholarship to attend the same university that had torn her siblings away from her.
That day came in April.
A/N: I'm BACK and ready to spread the gospel that is AmeBela. R&R Ladies and Gents!
