Total pages in book: 99
Estimated words: 109903 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 550(@200wpm)___ 440(@250wpm)___ 366(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 109903 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 550(@200wpm)___ 440(@250wpm)___ 366(@300wpm)
"Let's do this," he said. "The sooner we kill these bastards, the sooner we can get roaring drunk at Abby's place. I spent all damned morning stocking her fridge."
It wasn't exactly a vote of confidence, but it made most of Neil's teammates smile and Nicky whooped a little in glee. There was no point pretending they weren't going to get completely slaughtered tonight. Wymack was offering them a chance to drink themselves to sleep so they wouldn't stay up all night stewing on their failure. Neil guessed that was better than nothing, even if it didn't help him at all.
Wymack pushed the door open. Dan threw her team a tight-lipped smile over her shoulder before leading them into the stadium. Neil couldn't see the stands until they were almost to the inner court, but the noise that crashed over him seemed twice as loud as it'd ever been. The roar escalated to screams when the Foxes finally stepped into view. The Vixens waved their pom-poms and bounced around in ecstatic greeting. The school's performing band, the Orange Notes, blasted the school fight song as loud as they could. Somehow it still sounded muffled by the rest of the chaos.
Neil looked up into the sea of orange. He could spot the out-of-towners by the neutral "1 – 2" signs they carried in tribute to Riko and Kevin. The Raven fans were even easier to find. They'd come all in black and took up an entire reserved section directly opposite the Foxes' bench. It was like a black hole had swallowed up part of the stadium.
With all of the noise, Neil missed the announcement that signaled the Ravens' entrance, but he couldn't miss the sudden heavy pulse of drums. The tune struck him as oddly familiar, but it took him a second to place it. It was the music that heralded Riko's arrival at Kathy's show: Edgar Allan's fight song. It wasn't upbeat and confident like any other song Neil heard at games. This was a dark and heavy tune, an intimidating message of death and domination. The Ravens took their image seriously. Neil guessed they had a lot of intensive counseling in their futures.
The crowd's reaction was violent. Palmetto-clad students chanted derogatory phrases and screamed hateful boos. Edgar Allan's section roared a battle cry. Fans who had traveled here just to see a good show cheered for the Ravens as fiercely as they had the Foxes.
The teams were sent on warm-up laps, but Wymack ceded the inner court to the larger Raven team. The Foxes ran their laps on the court itself, following the court walls and going the opposite direction as their opponents. Neil saw the Ravens pass as an endless line of black and red in his peripheral vision but refused to look at them. He kept his eyes on the orange and white jersey in front of him.
They followed laps with drills, but Moriyama only sent half his team onto the court. The Raven defense continued running laps while the seven strikers and five dealers took shots on goal. Even with only roughly half their team on the court they outnumbered the Foxes by several bodies.
The referees kicked them off the court long before Neil was ready to go, leaving only Dan and Riko behind. Somehow the captains managed a civil handshake at half-court. The head referee flipped the coin and signaled Edgar Allan for starting serve. He stayed where he was as Dan and Riko left the court.
Moriyama and Wymack set up their starting lines near their respective doors and waited. The Foxes' three subs went down the line, cracking racquets with their teammates and offering tight, tense smiles.
"For the Foxes, tonight's starting line-up," the announcer said. "Number two, Kevin Day."
Anything else he might have said was swallowed up by the crowd. Kevin ignored the ecstatic roar and stepped onto the court. Neil's knuckles popped as he clenched his fingers tighter around his racquet.
"Number ten, Neil Josten," the announcer said.
"Five points," Wymack said.
Neil sighed and stepped through the door. He went to his spot on half-court line and turned to watch as his teammates entered the court. Allison was the starting dealer, and Nicky and Renee were on as the Foxes' starting backliners. Andrew was the last one on for the team and he got comfortable in goal.
Neil didn't hear Riko's name, but he heard the crowd react. Riko strode onto the Foxhole Court like he owned the stadium. Instead of taking his spot, however, he stopped at Kevin's side. He took his helmet off, but the cheers echoing off the court walls drowned out whatever he was saying. Kevin unstrapped his own helmet and hooked it over his fingers as he answered. Riko said nothing else, seemingly content to stare Kevin down as the rest of the Ravens took the court.
When the Raven goalkeeper was in place and the referees moved into the court doors to check the teams, Riko finally moved. Neil was sure every Fox tensed when Riko reached for Kevin, but all Riko did was wind an arm around Kevin's shoulders and pull him into a short hug.
The crowd's response was ecstatic and deafening. Riko let go after just a second and walked down half-court to his place. Kevin stood frozen a few seconds longer. The unmistakable crash of a racquet against the court wall snapped him out of it and Kevin jerked around to look back at Andrew. Andrew beat his racquet against the goal a second time in warning. Kevin got the hint and yanked his helmet on.
The head referee waited until Kevin lifted his stick in an okay, then walked to the Raven dealer and handed over a ball. He left the court, and the referees bolted both doors closed.
Neil closed his eyes and breathed. He locked away everything he was, burying his father and Nathaniel and the Moriyamas into a mental safe for later. He didn't need or want any of that right now. All that mattered was this game: the racquet in his hands, the Ravens' goal, and the clock counting down seconds to serve overhead. He wasn't Neil right now. He wasn't anything or anyone but a Fox, and he had a game to play.