He sucked in a slow, deep breath, trying to inhale as much smoke as he could, and watched as his cigarette burned down to the filter. He went through two more cigarettes before his roommates showed up. Neil stubbed the third out when he heard the front door open and scraped ash off the windowsill onto the carpet. He ground the ash in with a shoe, stuffed what was left of the butt into his pack for later, and kicked his things into some semblance of order. His safe was closed and locked, so he went out to greet his teammates. He felt distant as he watched them walk in. Maybe he was already dying, his stupid soul fading from his short body in preparation for a brutal end.

Seth came in first and heaved his suitcases off to one side. He was mid-rant and needed his hands free for angry gesturing. Matt was behind him with a tolerant look on his face and a third bag in his hands. Matt pushed the door shut and passed the bag to Seth, who threw it after the others.

Neil wasn't sure who Seth was angriest at: Abby, Allison, or Andrew's group. His rant went back and forth between all of them without a logical pattern. He stopped only when he ran out of colorful language. Finally he threw his hands up in disgust and turned on Neil. "And to make it all worse, I get stuck with a fucking amateur as a sub!"

"Kevin approved him," Matt said.

"Like that makes me feel any better." Seth glared at Neil. Neil stared back, unimpressed by his rage. His apathy only served to incense Seth further. "We were a bad joke; now we're a practical one. When the others find out about this, we're going to win our games only because they'll be too busy laughing to take us seriously. We were supposed to make it this year. I trusted him to pick our sub because he said he could get us past the championships death match. But this is repulsive."

"At least give Neil a chance," Matt said.

"Day's fucking with us," Seth said. "It isn't right."

"This attitude isn't right," Matt said, pointing at him. "Kevin would never recruit someone just to make us look bad—we do that well enough on our own. If you want us to win this year, act like it. We need a cohesive offensive line. Since you and Kevin are a lost cause, you're going to have to make it work with Neil."

"He's short, he can't play, and he looks like he has an attitude problem."

"Coach says he's got potential." Matt looked at Neil. "Andrew says you're fast."

Neil frowned. "When did he say that?"

"When do you think, wiseass?" Seth asked. "We talked all kinds of shit about you after you booked it."