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)
Renee was next in line and the eye of the storm. She doled out friendly advice, encouraged her teammates' efforts, and played mediator occasionally. She didn't get involved in the others' fights, either to take sides or preach peace, and no one argued with a word she said. Even Andrew seemed quite taken with her. Neil saw them talking off to the side several times throughout the week. It was obvious no one else approved of their odd friendship, but neither goalkeeper paid any mind to the unhappy looks sent their way. Neil wasn't sure what to make of it. He was less sure what to think about Renee, so he avoided her whenever he could.
The rest of the Foxes fell in under them in an ever-shifting order. Seth's position on the team varied the most. He was the team's only fifth-year, since everyone else from his starting line had quit or flunked out by now, but he was too much of an isolationist to make much of a difference on the court. His mood was so volatile Neil was sure he had to be on something. Why Abby and Wymack hadn't put an end to it, Neil didn't know. Allison carried weight because of her seniority and her aggressive attitude on the court, but she absolutely loathed the cousins and didn't like working with them.
Aaron was a better player than Nicky was, but he kept a clinical distance from it all. Nicky gave it everything he had, but he liked dramatic plays and liked picking fights with Allison and Seth even more. Andrew's position was hard to figure out. His influence over Kevin and his skill made him useful, but he put in as little effort as Wymack let him get away with.
Neil didn't have a place in that hierarchy yet. His teammates held so little regard for him he didn't even have the dubious honor of being dead last. He wasn't surprised, since he was an inexperienced newcomer to their mess, but that didn't make it easier to deal with. Dan tried her hardest to include him, checking on him anytime she was near him on the court, but she had her hands full managing the rest of her team. Allison didn't take Neil seriously, Matt was too far away to help, and Neil didn't want to deal with Renee. The cousins were keeping their distance this week. That left Seth and Kevin.
Kevin and Seth had to deal with Neil since he was on their line, but Neil would rather they ignored him entirely. Nothing he did was right in their eyes. They tore him apart and kicked him aside as useless no matter how hard he tried. Neil hated their attitudes, but he was determined not to lose his temper in front of the team again. Luckily the strikers were as willing to fight over him as they were with him, so he took what comfort he could in watching Seth and Kevin duke it out with fists and sticks.
Wymack rarely interfered in the fighting. He let them brawl and then punished them with intense cardio and excruciating drills. Seemed he'd long ago decided his team could only function by testing themselves against each other and establishing their own ranking. Neil thought it madness at first, but as the week progressed he could see the team finally figuring out the limits and alliances between them.
By the time Friday rolled around, Neil was desperate for the weekend. The stress of worrying about Kevin and Riko, the irritation and exasperation over his teammates' behavior on the court, and Kevin and Seth's unending, angry condescension were wearing him down. He couldn't deal with it any longer, but he couldn't escape from it, either. He spent all day with the Foxes at practice, then went back to the dorm and saw them all evening too. Neil was being suffocated by their very presence. All he wanted to do was vanish from campus for the weekend. He had to find some breathing room before he cracked.
He'd forgotten about Andrew's plans for him. When Neil left the shower after Friday's practice he expected everyone else to be gone. Neil rode to practices with the team, sharing the bed of Matt's truck with Allison, Seth, and Renee, but he always ran back to the dorm alone afterwards. The others caught on within a couple days that Neil liked leaving after them, and none of them had asked him why. They didn't try to change his mind and stopped waiting on him after the second day. Maybe it was a Fox thing, knowing when there were boundaries they really shouldn't cross and questions they'd never get answers to. Neil wasn't sure, but he appreciated it.
Friday was different, though. Neil lugged his dirty uniform into the locker room and saw Nicky waiting on one of the benches with a black gift bag.
"You survived your first week," Nicky said. "Did you have fun?" "Is it going to be like this all summer?"
"Pretty much," Nicky said. "At least it's never boring, right?"
Neil dropped his uniform in one of the laundry baskets, checked his locker to make sure it was secure, and turned to find Nicky standing right at his back. Neil put a hand up to shove Nicky out of his space. Nicky was expecting it and pushed the black bag into Neil's open palm.
"This is for you," Nicky said. "Andrew said you don't have anything appropriate for where we're going. He told me what size to get you, and I picked it out. Trust me, it's awesome."
Neil stared at him, thrown. "What?"
"You didn't forget about our party, did you? Here." Nicky hooked the twine handle over Neil's fingers. Neil watched him do it, trying to remember the last time someone gave him a gift and coming up blank. That his first one should be from Andrew was unsettling.
Nicky misinterpreted his discomfort as suspicion and laughed. "No catch. It's more for us than you, honestly. We can't be seen with you in public if you look like a raggedy hobo. No offense." He waited a beat before finally realizing something wasn't right. "Neil?"