Neil took one last peek up at the stands before heading back to the locker room.

Wymack called them to the foyer when they had all their gear on and passed around the Breckenridge Jackals' roster. Matt took one look at the starting line-up and made a face.

"Hey, Seth. Looks like Gorilla's back."

"Shit." Seth held out his hand in a demand for the paper.

"At least they're taking us seriously from the start," Aaron said.

"Easy for defense to say." Allison took the roster from Matt and gave it to Seth.

"Gorilla?" Neil asked.

"Number 16, Hawking," Nicky said. "AKA Gorilla. Six and a half feet tall and three hundred pounds of pure douchebaggery. You'll know him when you see him, trust me. He looks like a football player that got lost on his way to the field."

"He's also dumb as a brick, so he sat out of championships last year on academic probation," Matt said. "It's kind of a yearly ritual for him."

"He's defense," Dan said, looking at Neil, "and he loves body-checks. Don't get between him and the wall, Neil. He'll break every bone in your body if you give him the chance."

"Don't worry, though," Matt said. "He'll probably be too busy killing Kevin and Seth to notice you."

"This is my reassured face," Neil said, pointing up at his blank expression.

"Are you done wasting my oxygen yet?" Wymack asked. "Let's get moving. We're on home court for warm-up. We're doing simple relay shots first, Andrew and Renee twice through each. Andrew, keep them on our side. You hit a single practice shot onto the Jackals' side of the court when they're warming up and I won't start you until second half."

Neil looked at Andrew at that. Andrew looked fine so far, but maybe they were still too far out from first serve for him to be feeling any withdrawal.

Wymack kept going. "Starters down the line: Seth, Kevin, Dan, Matt, Aaron, Andrew. I've got three subs each half, so you'll all get a swap except the goalies. Kevin, you're out if your hand so much as itches. Don't be stupid tonight."

"It's been eight months," Kevin said.

"Don't risk it your first game back," Abby said.

Kevin grimaced but gave up arguing. That was good enough for Wymack and Abby, so they sent the Foxes scrambling for their helmets and racquets. They lined up at the door in order of playing position, with Dan out of place at the front as their captain. Wymack had an earpiece in that linked him to the announcer's booth. When he heard the okay, he led his team out to the benches. Neil's helmet muffled some of the crowd's screaming, but his ears were still ringing when he followed the Foxes onto the court.