"See?" Nicky said, sounding pleased. "That's much better. That's how a normal human being looks when they check their phone, Neil."

Neil stared at him. "Is that really why you've been messaging me nonstop?"
"Mostly," Nicky said. "Andrew told me to handle it. That's the easiest way I knew how."

"Handle what?"

"You, of course. Question," Nicky said. "If I hadn't been bothering you would you have touched that phone at all this week?"

"I have it for emergencies," Neil said, "so no."

"Question again," Nicky said. "Do you honestly think you'd have used it if you had an emergency? No, really. You didn't see your face when Andrew gave you that, Neil. That wasn't disinterest or shock. That was like, mental meltdown the likes of which I haven't seen in years. I don't know why, but I know it wouldn't have occurred to you to call us if something went wrong."

Neil knew he was right, but he said, "You don't know that."

"Couldn't risk it. We didn't want to find out the hard way just how screwed your mental wiring is."

"I called Matt from Columbia when I needed help."

"Yeah," Nicky said, unimpressed. "So we all heard. You called Matt, gave him your 'I'm fine' song and dance routine, and then hitchhiked with strangers back to campus. Maybe you remember?" Nicky waited, but Neil couldn't defend himself against an accusation like that. "Anyway, you're welcome. I just saved you at least two hundred dollars in intensive therapy."

Neil didn't think Nicky wearing down his guard was something to be grateful for, but he obediently said, "Thank you."

"You ever say that like it's not a question?" Nicky asked, looking pained. "Oh well. I'll take my victories where I can. Focus on the battles first, then win the war, right? I don't know how the quote actually goes but you know what I mean. So where was I?"

It didn't take him long to remember. He chattered away a mile a minute about his upcoming presentation. Neil let it go in one ear and out the other. His mind was more on the phone still sitting in his hands than the put-upon tone of Nicky's voice. When Nicky finally turned away to harass Aaron about something, Neil flipped his phone open. He went past his packed inbox to his call history. It hadn't changed; Andrew's name was still the only one there.

It didn't make sense.

Kevin claimed he had something Andrew wanted. Neil didn't know what it was, but it had to be something big if Andrew was willing to defy the Ravens and work around all of Neil's problems. Neil made a mental note to talk to Kevin about it this weekend, but they had to survive the fall banquet first.

Thoughts of seeing Riko tomorrow were enough to sour his mood. Neil buried his phone in the bottom of the bag and tried to think of nothing at all.

CHAPTER SIX

A lottery in July chose Blackwell University as host for the fall banquet. It was a relatively lucky draw for the Foxes since they were only four hours away, but none of them were feeling particularly good about it when they boarded the bus Saturday. They pulled onto the interstate with thirteen people on board: the Fox team, the two-man staff, and Aaron's and Nicky's dates.