"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.

CHAPTER THREE

Thursday's practice was more uncomfortable than Wednesday's was. It would be easy to blame Andrew's drugged reappearance in their goal Thursday afternoon, but Andrew mostly behaved himself. He didn't mention Seth a single time and had little to say to the upperclassmen.

The problem was what Dan and Matt had noticed Wednesday night: the team stood to be so much greater without Seth on the line. Andrew, Aaron, and Nicky might have personal issues off the court, but they worked well together on it. Matt had an in with the group thanks to his talent and whatever Andrew put him through last year. Dan led them and kept them moving from her spot as the offensive dealer. Kevin pushed Neil mercilessly on the strikers' line, but Neil fought tooth and nail to keep up. Renee smoothed over the jagged edges whenever they started to show.

For the first time in Fox history, the team was a unified force. Dan and Matt could see that, but Neil saw the guilt on their faces and heard the catch in their words when they spoke during breaks. They didn't want to find the silver lining of Seth's death and they were hesitant to exploit it. Neil wanted to tell them death was no reason to hold back, but he found their humanity interesting. He just hoped they got over it before first serve on Friday night.