Total pages in book: 78
Estimated words: 87395 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 437(@200wpm)___ 350(@250wpm)___ 291(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 87395 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 437(@200wpm)___ 350(@250wpm)___ 291(@300wpm)
Between the Foxes' in-fighting this past week and Kevin's bullying all through May, Neil had almost forgotten why he liked Exy so much. He did his best at practices but these days he worked mostly to keep his teammates off his back. As Neil surveyed Kevin's damage, he finally felt inspired again. On its heels was a hungry, desperate rush.
"I want that," Neil said.
"Then start really trying." Kevin lined his cones up again and switched his racquet back to his right hand. He gave his left a small shake as he returned to his starting spot. "This is the first of eight Raven precision drills. When you master this one, we will move on. We'll meet every weeknight save Friday until you can do all of them in your sleep."
"But we've lost a month of practice already," Neil said. "Why couldn't we have started this in May?"
"Because you set Andrew off unnecessarily," Kevin said, annoyed. "He said I couldn't be alone with you and he wouldn't let me bring you here."
"And you always do what Andrew says?" Neil asked.
"He is the only reason I can stay here, so yes," Kevin said. "Now shut up and practice. We're weeks behind where you should be at this point."
They spent the next half-hour on that same drill before moving on to footwork. Kevin called it quits at twelve-thirty. Neil was disappointed to stop after just two hours, but as he helped Kevin collect their balls and cones, fatigue started to set in. He was yawning by the time he followed Kevin off the court.
Kevin went into the stands to find Andrew, so Neil took a rare first shower. He was halfway through when Kevin joined him. Neil dried off and dressed in the sticky heat of the shower room and went into the locker room to drop his uniform off. He waited there for Kevin, and then followed Kevin to the lounge to collect Andrew on their way out. Andrew said nothing to either of them as he drove back to the dorm, and they filed up the stairs to the third floor in silence.
Neil was quiet as he went into his dorm room, but the excess care was unnecessary. Matt was at his desk, bleary-eyed and halfslouched. He perked up a bit as Neil closed the door behind him, and in the light from his monitor Neil could see the worry on Matt's face.
"You good?"
Neil realized Matt had been waiting up for him. Surprise warred with unexpected guilt in an uncomfortable twinge. "Yes. He's teaching me Raven drills."
"You're going to hate getting up in the morning," Matt said, shutting his computer down.
Neil knew he wouldn't. He'd be tired and sore, but he'd be getting up so he could go back to the court. It wasn't worth arguing about, so he murmured something unintelligible and preceded Matt into the bedroom. Matt got into bed while Neil collected his sleeping clothes, and by the time Neil finished changing, Matt was already asleep. Neil climbed up the ladder into his bunk and passed out as soon as his head hit the pillow.
It felt like only a matter of seconds before his alarm was going off to wake him up again. Neil double-checked his clock to make sure it was right, scrubbed the exhaustion out of his eyes, and went down the ladder to get ready for the day.
Maybe last night's practice was an icebreaker in Kevin's strange world, because Kevin's angry comments made a comeback this morning. They harkened more to the angry disappointment Kevin started the summer with, though, and less like the hostile insults Kevin resorted to after hearing about the district change. Neil tried to appreciate the difference and almost succeeded.
The cousins still had nothing to say to Neil, but Neil noticed Nicky watching Kevin and Neil from time to time throughout practice. Seemed he hadn't missed the thawing ice between the two. Neil waited for him to say something, but anytime Neil looked Nicky's way, Nicky feigned to find something else suddenly fascinating. Neil let it slide, unwilling to be the first to break the silence after what Nicky had helped Andrew do to him in Columbia.
Nicky's patience lasted until Wednesday afternoon. Andrew had weekly sessions with his psychiatrist on Wednesdays. Nicky dropped him off at the medical center while the Foxes were lunching and made it back in time to change out for afternoon drills. The men were all in the changing room, checking the straps on their armor and tugging their uniforms on again, when Nicky broke.
Except when Nicky finally spoke up, it was in German, and it wasn't to Neil.
"You think he's ever going to forgive us?" Nicky asked.
"Does it matter?" Aaron said. "He's not our problem."
Neil forgot the collar he was tightening around his neck and turned to stare at them. Andrew knew he could speak German, which meant these two should know Neil could understand them. Neil wondered if they expected him to join in, if Nicky was passively inviting him to forgive or condemn them without the others listening in on it, but neither man was looking at him.
"What do you mean, he's not our problem?" Nicky asked, but Aaron didn't answer. Nicky waited but lost patience before long. "Are we really doing this all over again? You want to fight these guys all the way to graduation?"
"I want to be left alone."
"This is a team sport!"
The others had been ignoring them, likely used to the occasional German conversation, but Nicky's strident tone got their attention. Seth glanced over with an irritated scowl, but Matt flicked a curious look between the cousins. Kevin didn't look up, likely used to the occasional squabbling by now.
Nicky didn't seem to notice the attention he was getting. "You can't live like this, Aaron. I can't live like this. It's exhausting and depressing."
"Okay."
"'Okay'? Just 'okay'? This isn't okay. Jesus. Sometimes you're so much like Andrew it's horrifying."
Aaron's expression was livid. "Fuck you."
"Hey," Matt said loudly. "Break it up, you two. What the hell?"