"I can have this," Kevin said, voice thick with frustration. "You're just being stupid."

"I guess we'll see, but don't say I didn't warn you!"

Andrew stepped around him and wiped his knife off on his arm. Whatever else Andrew wore, there was one accessory he never took off: a pair of black armbands that stretched from his elbows to his wrists. They were mostly a joke, a way for strangers to tell the twins apart, but Andrew had another purpose for them. Neil found out in June Andrew was hiding sheaths under the thin cotton. As soon as Andrew knew his blade was clean the knife disappeared from sight. Andrew was out the door a couple seconds later.

"Are you serious?" Nicky sounded exasperated as he picked his bag up. "I thought you gave up this fight months ago. You're never going to win."

Kevin stormed over to his locker without answering and began packing his bag. Nicky shook his head and started for the door. Aaron hadn't slowed long enough to watch the short fight, so he was right behind Nicky. Neil watched Kevin for another outburst, but Kevin was venting the rest of his anger silently. He shoved his gear into his bag like he wanted to break it.

The only thing that mattered to Kevin was Exy. He'd been raised on this sport and the only thing he wanted was to outperform every other striker he faced on the court. He pushed his teammates mercilessly and demanded twice as much of himself. Kevin couldn't stand incompetence and he wouldn't tolerate anything less than his teammate's best efforts.

What Kevin hated most of all was Andrew's bone-deep apathy. Andrew had some of the best 'keeper statistics in the southeast and that was without putting forth a real effort. Kevin had spent the better part of a year trying to get through to Andrew. He wanted Exy to mean something; he wanted Andrew's best performance like a dying man wanted one last breath of air. Andrew knew it, and he refused to play along.

Neil understood Kevin's anger. He'd been equally baffled this summer when he first saw Andrew play. It was impossible—should be impossible—for someone so talented to care so little. Unfortunately Andrew's drugs wrecked his attention span and kept him buzzing too high to honestly care about the game's outcome. Playing through withdrawal might actually be the better option, except Neil had tried talking to a semi-sober Andrew about Exy this summer. Andrew said Exy was too boring to be worth his while.

It was one thing if Andrew's psychological issues and medicine made him incapable of trying, but he'd just sold his game to Wymack without a real argument. Neil didn't know what that meant, and he didn't know how to feel about it.

Matt waited until Kevin stalked out a minute later before looking at Neil. "Well, tonight is going to be awesome."

"I think you meant to say 'awful'," Neil said, zipping his bag shut.