"On second thought, you're not my type after all," Nicky said when the door closed behind his cousins. "You need some more water before we hit the court for round two?"

"That's not okay," Neil said, pointing at the door.

"That's nothing," Nicky said.

Neil caught his arm as Nicky passed and hauled him to a stop. "Don't let him get away with things like that."

Nicky considered him for a moment, his smile fading into something small and tired. "Oh, Neil. You're going to make this so hard on yourself. Look," he said, tugging free and turning Neil toward the door. "Andrew is a little bit crazy. Your lines are not his lines, so you can get all huff and puff when he tramps across yours but you'll never make him understand what he did wrong. Moreover, you'll never make him care. So just stay out of his way."

"He's like this because you let him get away with it," Neil said. "You're putting all of us at risk."

"That was my fault." Nicky opened the door and waited for Neil to precede him out. "I said something I shouldn't have, and I got what I deserved."

Neil wasn't convinced, but he couldn't demand better explanations for an argument that had happened in German, so he led the way to the inner court. Neil looked first to Andrew, who was jogging to the half-court line, and then to Kevin, who was standing on the fox paw logo at the court's center. Aaron was at the door waiting for Nicky and Neil, and the three entered the court together.

Kevin barely waited for them to stop at his side before dividing them up with a flick of his fingers. "Aaron is with me. Nicky and Andrew get the child. Two-man team scrimmage with an empty away goal."

"I'm not a child," Neil said. "You're only a year older than I am." Two, really, but he wasn't about to tell them he'd lied about both his birthday and his age.

Kevin ignored that, but Nicky spoke up, "Shouldn't Andrew be with you and Aaron? Then Neil can practice shooting on him."

Kevin looked bored by the suggestion. "If I thought he could make it to the goal, I would have set it up that way."

"Them's fighting words," Nicky said, grinning at Neil. "Bring it, kid."

There were only five of them, but they set up as if they had two full teams: Neil and Kevin spaced out on the half-court line, Nicky at first-fourth, and Aaron at far-fourth. Andrew acted as dealer from his place in home goal and slammed the ball all the way to the other end of the court. The second Neil heard the crack of Andrew's racquet, he started moving, pushing up before Aaron could close him out.

Kevin should have done the same and pushed up the court toward Nicky, but he stayed on the half-court line. Likewise, Aaron let the rebound go past him. Neil didn't stop to think about it but scooped the ball out of the air. He only had it for two seconds before Kevin appeared out of nowhere. Kevin smashed their racquets together so hard the ball popped one way and Neil's racquet flew the other. Neil swore at the sharp pain that stabbed up his arms.