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)
Why did he deserve Neil? Why should Neil hesitate here and worry about him when Neil's own life was on the line? After the way Kevin treated him this summer, Neil should be happy. This was the perfect time to duck out. The team would assume Neil was a scared kid who couldn't deal with the Moriyama truth and the press would be too busy following Kevin and Riko to dwell on another failed Fox. Neil should send Riko an anonymous thank-you card and go over the border to Mexico.
But Neil couldn't, not yet.
He shook a clump of ash off onto the windowsill and pushed his finger against it, smearing it into a dark streak on the white paint. He looked up at the clouds and searched them for his mother's furious face. "One of us has to make it, Mom."
It wasn't going to be Neil. It was obvious he was too stupid to survive without his mother if he let himself get into messes like this. But maybe Kevin could do it. Maybe he'd get through this somehow, riding his talent and Andrew's psychotic obsession and Wymack's fierce protection. Maybe he'd get through this season on the Foxes' roster and be safe. He'd recover and he'd be free. Neil couldn't leave until he knew Kevin would be okay. He didn't want to find out from half the world away.
He sucked in a slow, deep breath, trying to inhale as much smoke as he could, and watched as his cigarette burned down to the filter. He went through two more cigarettes before his roommates showed up. Neil stubbed the third out when he heard the front door open and scraped ash off the windowsill onto the carpet. He ground the ash in with a shoe, stuffed what was left of the butt into his pack for later, and kicked his things into some semblance of order. His safe was closed and locked, so he went out to greet his teammates. He felt distant as he watched them walk in. Maybe he was already dying, his stupid soul fading from his short body in preparation for a brutal end.
Seth came in first and heaved his suitcases off to one side. He was mid-rant and needed his hands free for angry gesturing. Matt was behind him with a tolerant look on his face and a third bag in his hands. Matt pushed the door shut and passed the bag to Seth, who threw it after the others.
Neil wasn't sure who Seth was angriest at: Abby, Allison, or Andrew's group. His rant went back and forth between all of them without a logical pattern. He stopped only when he ran out of colorful language. Finally he threw his hands up in disgust and turned on Neil. "And to make it all worse, I get stuck with a fucking amateur as a sub!"
"Kevin approved him," Matt said.
"Like that makes me feel any better." Seth glared at Neil. Neil stared back, unimpressed by his rage. His apathy only served to incense Seth further. "We were a bad joke; now we're a practical one. When the others find out about this, we're going to win our games only because they'll be too busy laughing to take us seriously. We were supposed to make it this year. I trusted him to pick our sub because he said he could get us past the championships death match. But this is repulsive."
"At least give Neil a chance," Matt said.
"Day's fucking with us," Seth said. "It isn't right."
"This attitude isn't right," Matt said, pointing at him. "Kevin would never recruit someone just to make us look bad—we do that well enough on our own. If you want us to win this year, act like it. We need a cohesive offensive line. Since you and Kevin are a lost cause, you're going to have to make it work with Neil."
"He's short, he can't play, and he looks like he has an attitude problem."
"Coach says he's got potential." Matt looked at Neil. "Andrew says you're fast."
Neil frowned. "When did he say that?"
"When do you think, wiseass?" Seth asked. "We talked all kinds of shit about you after you booked it."
"Dan asked what they thought of you," Matt said before Neil could react. "Nicky thinks you need more time with us. Aaron says you have to be more aggressive. Kevin didn't say anything, which would normally be weird since Kevin's not known for mincing words, but I guess he's distracted. But Andrew bets you can outrun everyone on this team. Coach said you clocked a fourminute mile back in Arizona. That true? You're a little short to run so fast."
"I like running," Neil said.
"Fuck running," Seth said. "Learn to score. Word is you still can't score on Andrew."
"No," Neil admitted. "Not yet."
"When you do, you can talk to me," Seth said. "Until then, stay out of my way and try not to drag down my line too much."
"Welcome to the Foxhole Court," Matt added dryly as Seth grabbed his suitcase and stormed into the bedroom. "Hey, let's hit downtown for dinner tonight. We might as well enjoy ourselves before this blows up in our faces, and I don't want to be here when Andrew's between doses. Can you two handle each other while I check with the girls?"
"Probably," Neil said.
He and Seth managed to get along until Matt came back, but that was only because they ignored each other. Seth was busy moving in and Neil was happy to stay out of his way. When Seth was done with the bedroom and had moved on to the living room, Neil tidied up the mess he'd made earlier. Matt set up his computer at one of the desks and killed time online until it was time to rendezvous with the others.
"Downtown" referred to a long street of shops branching off the campus just a short ways from Fox Tower. Mostly the stores sold campus gear, but there were a couple bookstores and a half-dozen pubs. It was like a ghost town now with so few students around. Half of the places they passed had signs up that they'd reopen closer to fall. The rest stayed open in hopes of drawing in the summer school students and the athletes that would be filtering in over the next couple weeks.