The Raven King (All for the Game Book 2)
The Raven King: Chapter 2

Aaron’s cryptic remark was the only answer they got from him at practice. Wymack stopped pushing the second things got personal. Neil expected the upperclassmen to say something about it when they put court walls between themselves and Wymack, but apparently they shared Wymack’s tact. They flicked curious looks at Aaron and Nicky from time to time but no one pushed for an explanation.

Without Seth around to pick fights with Kevin and Nicky, Allison on hand to fuss at anyone within hearing range, or Andrew chattering away in goal, their drills were almost alarmingly quiet. Practice could have been a complete waste of time if not for Kevin and Dan. Kevin was too single-minded about Exy to let anything distract him when he was on the court, and Dan knew her role as their captain. She kept them moving when they slowed and talked through the awkward silences. Even still, Neil thought they were all relieved when Wymack finally called an end to practice.

They left the stadium at the same time, but Nicky’s distaste for traffic laws got them to Fox Tower first. Nicky found a spot near the back of the athletes’ parking lot and they headed for the dorm as a group. Halfway there they noticed the figure waiting for them on the sidewalk. Andrew sat cross-legged on the curb, hands on his ankles as he watched their approach.

‘You shouldn’t be outside if you’re coming down with something,’ Kevin said.

‘Such concern.’ Andrew grinned at Kevin’s cool tone. ‘Don’t cry, Kevin. It’s nothing a nap and some vitamin C can’t fix.’

Nicky crouched in front of Andrew. ‘Hey. You good?’

‘You ask strange questions, Nicky.’

‘I’m concerned, is all.’

‘Sounds like your problem. Oh, there we go, finally.’

Neil looked back as Matt turned into the parking lot. Matt circled twice before he found a spot large enough to fit his truck. Andrew batted at Nicky’s face in a silent order to get out of the way, so Nicky stood and stepped off to one side. Andrew waited until Dan, Matt, and Renee were close enough to hear him before lifting his hand in greeting and saying,

‘Renee, you made it! Welcome back. I’m borrowing you. You don’t mind, do you? I knew you wouldn’t.’

Renee nodded. ‘Do I need anything?’
‘I’ve already got it.’ Andrew hopped to his feet and set off across the parking lot.

Renee did an about-face and followed. She caught up in a couple long strides and fell in alongside him. Neil looked at Dan. Her mouth was a thin, hard line but she didn’t look surprised and she didn’t call after them. Matt opened his mouth, then took his cue from Dan’s silence and decided not to say anything. No one else moved until Andrew and Renee reached the far edge of the parking lot, and then Aaron turned abruptly away. Instead of heading inside, he started down the sidewalk that looped around front of Fox Tower and led back to campus.

‘Right,’ Matt said at last. ‘Are we going to talk about this?’

Nicky rubbed his arms as if warding off a chill, never mind that it was almost a hundred degrees outside, and jerked his chin at the door. ‘Not without a drink, we aren’t.’

The school’s Exy team had three suites on the third floor. Andrew’s lot had the room closest to the stairs, the girls were in the middle, and Matt and Neil were on the end in the room they’d once shared with Seth. Dan slipped her hand into Matt’s as they approached the suite door and squeezed so hard her knuckles went white. Matt didn’t seem to take any strength from it. He stared at the key ring in his free hand like he’d forgotten which one would let him in.

‘He was such an asshole,’ Matt said quietly.

‘I know,’ Dan said.

Matt sucked in a slow breath and finally unlocked the door. He pushed the door open, then flinched back from the doorway and clutched harder at Dan’s hand. The grim look on Dan’s face had Neil edging forward, but it was difficult to see past Matt. Neil didn’t have long to wait; Dan steeled up the courage to move first and tugged Matt into the room with her. Neil paused in the doorway to take stock of the changes.

Neil hadn’t been in his room since Sunday morning, and then he’d stopped by only long enough to pack a bag for Wymack’s place. On Sunday the room looked as it always had. In the few days since then someone had come by and cleared out Seth’s things. The third desk was gone, as was the nightstand Seth converted into shelves for his schoolwork. It left a too-obvious gap between Neil’s and Matt’s things.

Neil left Matt and Dan staring at the new emptiness and went to the bedroom. His and Matt’s beds were still lofted one above the other, but Seth’s bed had been taken back by resident services. The remaining two dressers that’d once been hidden under Seth’s bed were now exposed to the room, their neglected tops covered in a fine layer of dust. It was like Seth had never been here, like he’d never existed at all.

Neil wondered if he would disappear so easily.

He left his duffel on his dresser and went back into the living room. Matt and Dan were sitting pressed together on the couch. Matt was looking at the wall where Seth’s desk used to be. Dan studied Neil’s face but said nothing. Maybe she knew he didn’t need her comfort, or maybe there was just nothing to say.

Kevin and Nicky weren’t long in joining them. Nicky brought a handle of rum and an open bottle of cola, so Kevin collected glasses from the kitchen cabinets. Nicky tore his gaze away from the open space in the room with obvious effort. He set the drinks down on the coffee table before kneeling across from Dan and Matt. Kevin set five glasses on the table and sat at Nicky’s side.

Neil took his cup off the table before Nicky could serve him anything and sat at one end of the coffee table where he could see everyone. Nicky poured their drinks, passed them out, and raised his glass in silent toast to the room. No one joined him, but Nicky didn’t wait. He downed half his drink without coming up for air. Nicky topped it off with more rum and looked across the room again to the gap where Seth’s desk once stood.

‘So,’ Nicky started, sounding more than a little uncomfortable. ‘This is, uh.’

Matt didn’t give him time to figure it out. The look on his face said he wasn’t ready to talk about Seth yet, especially not with Nicky. He dragged Nicky’s attention back to a safer topic by saying, ‘Why didn’t Aaron know he had a brother?’

Nicky winced, but Neil didn’t know what bothered him more: the question or the rough edge in Matt’s voice.

‘They’re twins,’ Nicky said. He waited for them to catch on, looked from one blank face to another, and frowned disbelief. ‘Think about it for a sec, would you? Imagine you’re my Aunt Tilda. How eager would you be to tell Aaron you gave up his brother at birth? She hoped that secret would stay buried forever.’

‘But Aaron found out,’ Neil said.

Nicky flashed Neil a tight-lipped smile. ‘Yeah, and that’s why I believe in fate. See, Aaron was born and raised in San Jose. Apparently Aunt Tilda got bored of dating locally and started going to online matching sites. Right after Aaron turned thirteen Aunt Tilda hooked up with this new guy up in Oakland. Her boyfriend thought they should meet at a Raiders game, something nice and public and fun, so she stuffed Aaron in the car and off they went.

‘Aaron said he was at the concession stand when this cop walked up, calling him Andrew and talking like they knew each other. Aaron thought he was either crazy or confused, but it didn’t take the cop long to figure out something was wrong.’

‘Higgins,’ Matt guessed.

‘Yeah. Soon as Higgins figured out he had the wrong brother he made Aaron take him back to where Aunt Tilda was. See, Higgins thought Aunt Tilda was another foster mother and that Aaron and Andrew had somehow gotten split up in the system. Higgins wanted to reunite them, so Aunt Tilda gave him her phone number to pass along and took Aaron home again.

‘I don’t know why she bothered. Maybe she was too embarrassed to say no or didn’t want to explain to a cop what was going on. Either way, Andrew’s foster mother called the next day to set up a meet-and-greet, and Aunt Tilda refused. She told the fosters she didn’t want anything to do with Andrew, didn’t want to know what he was like or how he was doing, nothing. She even made them promise to not contact her ever again.’

Nicky finished his second drink and mixed a third. ‘But Aaron knew who was calling, and he was too excited to wait on his mom to hang up to replace out the details. As soon as she picked up in the kitchen, he ran to her bedroom and listened in on the upstairs phone. That’s how he found out the truth.’ Nicky looked down at his drink. ‘Aaron said it was the worst day of his life.’

‘Jesus,’ Matt said. ‘I don’t blame him. Did he tell her he’d heard her?’

‘Oh, yeah. Aaron said they had it out. But Aunt Tilda wouldn’t budge, so Aaron went behind her back and called the Oakland PD. He found the PAL coordinators and gave them his information to give to Andrew. Two weeks later he got a letter in the mail that basically said ‘Fuck you, go away’.’

Matt rubbed at his temples. ‘Yeah, that sounds like Andrew.’

‘Some things never change,’ Nicky said.

‘So how’d Aaron change Andrew’s mind?’ Dan asked.

Nicky gave her an odd look. ‘He didn’t.’

‘Wait,’ Dan said. ‘What do you mean, he didn’t?’

‘I mean he didn’t try again. I don’t know who told Andrew’s foster parents about Aaron, if it was Andrew or this Phil guy, but Andrew’s foster mom wrote Aaron a letter. She wanted Aaron to try again in spring and said something about holidays being rough and there being a lot of changes at the house. So Aaron waited, but he waited too long. In March Andrew went off to juvie, and Aaron started rethinking this brother thing. Two months later Aunt Tilda sold the house in San Jose and moved Aaron to Columbia.’

Dan looked bewildered. ‘Then when did they meet?’

‘Dad found out about Andrew five years ago, so…’ Nicky counted time on his fingers. ‘Four and a half years ago, give or take a bit. Dad went to California to interview Andrew’s foster family and stop by juvie. A month later he flew Aaron out so Aaron and Andrew could talk, but I don’t count that half-hour supervised session as a first meeting. They met for real when Andrew made early parole a year later and Dad bullied Aunt Tilda into bringing Andrew home.’

Nicky nursed his drink for a bit. ‘Weird when you think about it, right? They’ve only really known each other for three years.’

‘That’s messed up,’ Matt said.

‘Yeah, and that’s the nice version of the story,’ Nicky said. ‘Anyway, that’s how Aaron and Andrew know Higgins. I don’t know why he’s calling Andrew now, but I’m not going to ask. I kind of view Andrew’s foster life as an off-limits topic. I don’t bring it up until he does.’

‘Is that really okay?’ Dan asked. ‘It didn’t sound like a ‘Long time no see’ kind of phone call. What if someone’s dug up some past crime of his that could get him taken off our court? Maybe Phil was calling to warn him about an investigation.’

‘Andrew will take care of it,’ Nicky said.

‘That’s not comforting,’ Dan said, but she let it drop.

Somehow Nicky and Kevin ended up eating dinner with them. It was the first time since the upperclassmen moved to campus in June that Neil had seen any of Andrew’s lot socialize with the rest of the team. Neil attributed it to the twins’ absence. He’d heard Nicky complain to Aaron about the cousins’ isolationist stance, but Aaron hadn’t been swayed by Nicky’s unhappiness. Now, without Aaron to distract him or Andrew to shepherd him out of the way, Nicky was free to do as he liked.

They ordered delivery so they wouldn’t have to leave again, and Dan put in a movie to avoid another unpleasant conversation. The film was over before any of their teammates made it back, but that was as far as Nicky cared to press his luck.

‘Good night,’ he said after he’d helped clear away the dinner trash.

‘See you in the morning,’ Dan said, and closed the door behind him and Kevin. When she let go of the knob, she turned a strange look on Matt. ‘That was weird.’

‘Yeah,’ Matt agreed. ‘Chances of it happening again?’

‘Matt,’ Dan said, but hesitated. She glanced at the far wall where Seth’s desk had been as if she wasn’t sure she dared say her next words aloud. ‘What could this mean for our season?’

Because Wymack purposefully recruited troubled individuals, the Foxes had been a fractured mess from day one. They were a team with no concept of teamwork and they determined their hierarchy through force. But when summer practices started, ninety percent of conflict on the court began with Seth. Seth was always ready for a fight with Kevin and the cousins. He wouldn’t work with them on the court and refused to deal with them off it. It constantly forced the Foxes to take sides.

Matt’s expression was guarded, like he wasn’t sure they could have this conversation so soon after Seth’s death, but he answered. ‘Don’t get your hopes up. They don’t care about Seth. They won’t rally behind him like this.’

‘But,’ Dan said, because she and Neil heard it in Matt’s tone.

‘But,’ Matt agreed, and looked at Neil. ‘We finally have an in.’

Neil looked from one to the other. ‘I don’t understand.’

‘We saw this once before, with Kevin,’ Matt said. ‘They staked a claim on you. They’re going to drag you down their rabbit hole.’

Dan put her hands on Neil’s shoulders and fixed him with an intent look. ‘Don’t go so deep you forget about us, okay? Put one foot in their hole and keep the other up here with us. You’ve got to be the piece that finally brings this team together. We can’t make it to championships without them. Promise me you’ll try.’

‘I’m not exactly a uniting force,’ Neil said.

‘You’ve obviously got something Andrew wants,’ Matt said. ‘Where Andrew goes, they all go. You just have to pull him harder than he pulls you.’

They made it sound easy when Neil knew it wasn’t. ‘I’ll try.’

‘Good,’ Dan said, squeezing his shoulders once before letting go. ‘That’s all we ask.’

Dan sat on the couch and pulled Matt down beside her. Neil sat at his desk and attempted to catch up on his homework. It was only the second week of school and he was already behind. He tried to read his chemistry notes, but a few paragraphs in he started zoning out. He made it three more pages before he gave up and pushed his textbook off his desk.

‘Neil?’ Dan asked.

‘Why is chemistry so awful?’ Neil asked, reaching for the next assignment.

‘If I figure it out, you’ll be the first to know,’ Dan said. ‘You could always ask Aaron for help. He’s majoring in biological sciences.’

Neil would rather fail than spend more time with Aaron. His Spanish homework was easier to get through, but his history was too boring to stand. Neil dropped that book on top of his chemistry one and stared blankly at his English assignment. He gave the paper a half-hearted effort, then dug around in his backpack for his math book. As he did he realized Matt and Dan were watching him.

‘How many classes are you taking?’ Dan asked, frowning at him.

‘Six,’ Neil said.

‘You aren’t serious,’ Dan said. ‘Why?’

Neil looked from her to Matt. ‘That’s what the catalogue suggested.’

Dan grimaced at him, but Matt answered. ‘That schedule is for people graduating in four years. Your contract’s five for a reason. Everyone knows you can’t take a full course load and play on a team.’

‘Four classes,’ Dan said, holding up her fingers at him. ‘That’s all it takes to be considered a full-time student. That’s the most I want you taking this semester, okay? Figure out which two are going to make your life the most difficult and get rid of them. You’re not doing us or yourself any favors by burning out this early.’

‘Can I drop classes?’ Neil asked, surprised.

‘In your first two weeks, yes,’ Matt said. ‘Where’s your schedule? Let me see.’

Neil dug it out of a binder and brought it over. Dan motioned for Neil to sit on her free side. She held the schedule where they could all see it.

‘See this?’ she asked, pointing out Neil’s Monday-Wednesday-Friday classes. ‘This can’t stay. If you don’t leave yourself any breathing room you’re going to snap. When I was in high school I worked an overnight job, went to school, and captained my high school Exy team. It made me hate everything about my life. I don’t want the same thing happening to you. Matt said you and Kevin have night practices on top of all of this. Tell me: when do you actually sleep?’

‘During class,’ Neil admitted.

She thunked Neil on the forehead. ‘Wrong answer. You’ve got a GPA to maintain.’

‘Dan’s had a couple years to perfect this speech,’ Matt said over Dan’s head. ‘If Court is your end goal, you’re never going to need these classes. School is just a means to an end and an excuse to play Exy, so don’t kill yourself over it. Here, I’ll get my computer so we can log you into the school portal.’

Neil stared at his schedule while Matt dug his laptop out of its bag and debated what to cut. It wasn’t about which ones were time consuming, like Dan suggested, but ones he didn’t need at all. Neil was only going to be at Palmetto State for a year, though he hadn’t told his teammates that. Whatever he dropped, he dropped for good.

That made history and chemistry his prime choices, since he hated them. Neil wasn’t a fan of his English or Speech classes, but those lessons might come in handy somehow when he had to run away. He needed his Spanish lessons for sure, and math was at least interesting.

Matt passed Neil his laptop when it booted, and Dan and Matt watched as Neil logged into his student profile. Matt reached across Dan to point out the appropriate links to follow.

‘Better?’ Dan asked when his modified schedule loaded. ‘Look here. You had a break between history and speech, right? Now you’ve got two open periods. You can squeeze your tutor hours in there if you want. You have one morning class on Tuesdays and Thursdays, so you have all that time until practice for sleeping and homework. Works out perfectly, don’t you think?’

Neil was more interested in the sleeping than the homework part. ‘Yes, thank you.’

‘Don’t thank us, remember us,’ Dan said. ‘We’re your teammates. We’re here to help you with whatever you need, whether it’s this or games or general stress. We’ve all got different experiences, but we’re used to needing help. We’re just not used to getting it. But you’ve got us now.’

Neil didn’t know how to respond. He wasn’t sure what bothered him more: that he believed she meant it, or that he could never take her up on that offer regardless. The Foxes couldn’t deal with his demons. The only one Neil quasi-trusted with the truth was Andrew, and that was only because he was desperate.

He was saved from answering when someone knocked at the door. Neil started to get up, but he had the computer in his lap still, so Matt beat him to his feet. Neil thought it might be one of the other athletes from their hall who’d known Seth for years, but Renee was waiting in the hallway. Matt stepped out of the way to let her in. Dan cursed quietly at Neil’s side. Neil heard her tone but missed her word choice; he was distracted by Renee’s new limp.

‘I wish you wouldn’t do this,’ Dan said.

‘I know,’ Renee said.

She eased onto the cushion Matt had abandoned while Matt rummaged in the kitchen. Matt returned with a cold pack. Renee smiled as she took it and pressed it to the knuckles on her right hand. Pain pulled at the corner of her mouth, but her expression was otherwise calm as she flexed her fingers. Neil expected Matt and Dan to smother Renee with alarm and concern, but neither one of them asked if she was okay.

‘Tell me if this is going to be a problem,’ Dan said.

Renee shook her head. ‘Not for us. Whatever it is, it’s strictly personal. He’ll be back on the court tomorrow.’

Neil wondered what alternate universe he’d stumbled into. ‘Andrew hit you.’

‘A couple times,’ Renee said. ‘I forgot how fast he is when he’s high.’

Neil looked from Renee’s smile to her rainbow-streaked hair to the cross necklace hanging around her throat. He didn’t understand. Renee warned him not to overestimate how good she was, but everyone else said Renee was the gentle soul of the team. She’d been nothing but conciliatory since he first met her. Up until now, the only questionable part about her was her friendship with Andrew.

‘Renee and Andrew are sparring partners,’ Matt said.

It obviously didn’t sound as ridiculous to them as it did to Neil, but aside from flat-out asking what a sweet Christian girl was doing fighting the unofficial sociopath of the team, Neil didn’t know what to say. He looked at Matt for help, but Matt only grinned at his confusion. Neil looked at Dan next, but she was too intent on Renee’s hand to notice the attention. Finally Renee glanced up and took pity on him.

‘I am a born-again, Neil. Andrew is not interested in my faith; he is interested in the person I was before. He and I have more in common than you think. That is why I make you uncomfortable, isn’t it?’

Dan and Matt sent Neil curious looks at that. Apparently they hadn’t noticed how hard Neil worked to avoid getting caught alone with Renee. Neil ignored them and said, ‘You make me uncomfortable because you don’t make sense. I don’t understand you.’

‘You could ask,’ Renee said.

‘Is it really that easy?’ Neil asked.

‘I’m not proud of my past, but I can’t heal if I hide it. When you think you are ready to trust me, let me know. I don’t want it to be a problem between us. We can get a cup of coffee and talk about anything you like. Right now, though…’ Renee braced her good hand against the arm of the couch and got to her feet. ‘All I want is a hot shower and my bed. I’m exhausted.’

Dan looped her arm through Renee’s and looked from Matt to Neil. ‘You guys can spend the night in our room, if you want. If you think…’ She didn’t finish, but the look she sent around the room said enough. ‘We’ve got a futon you can use, Neil.’

‘I’ll sleep here,’ Neil said, ‘but I’ve got practice with Kevin tonight, so you should take Matt with you.’

‘You sure?’ Matt asked.

‘I’m sure,’ Neil said. ‘I’ll be fine.’

Matt hesitated, then kissed Dan goodnight. ‘I’ll wait with him until Kevin comes by. See you in a bit.’

He walked them to the door and closed it behind them. In their absence the room felt a thousand times larger, and the silence settled between Matt and Neil like a stone.

‘He’s late,’ Matt said in an awkward attempt to break the quiet. ‘Maybe Andrew’s too mad to let him come.’

‘Maybe.’

Neil sat at his desk to wait. Kevin usually collected Neil at ten for their night practices, but Andrew had been gone for hours with Renee. It was now a little after eleven. Neil yawned into his hand as he watched the clock. He wondered if he should just go to their room and ask Kevin if they were canceling practice and decided he’d do it at half after. Seven minutes before his self-imposed deadline, Kevin finally showed up.

‘At some point you have to let him sleep,’ Matt said, following them into the hall so he could go next door to Dan.

‘He can sleep when we’ve won finals,’ Kevin said.

Andrew was waiting for them in the car as usual. Despite the ugly way Kevin and Andrew left each other at practice, there was no obvious tension between them now. Andrew said nothing when Kevin and Neil climbed into his car and took them to the stadium in silence. Maybe his bout with Renee took the energy out of him, or maybe Andrew didn’t care enough to hold a grudge. Neil wasn’t sure, but he watched Andrew go up the stairs into the stands to wait on them and wondered.

‘Now, Neil,’ Kevin said from the court door.

Neil pushed all thoughts of Andrew aside and followed Kevin onto the Foxhole Court.