Total pages in book: 177
Estimated words: 163209 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 816(@200wpm)___ 653(@250wpm)___ 544(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 163209 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 816(@200wpm)___ 653(@250wpm)___ 544(@300wpm)
At least the morning brought an effective distraction, as the Trojans had an away game against Utah. It was eleven hours to Salt Lake City without accounting for a lunch break, and the Utes were a time zone ahead. The Trojans had to be on Utah’s campus at least an hour before a six-thirty serve, which meant leaving Los Angeles no later than a quarter to four in the morning. When Jeremy’s alarm went off at three o’clock on Friday, only three hours after he’d finished his homework, he nearly bludgeoned it with his pillow.
Since the Foxes had agitated the Ravens this week and Laila’s security detail was released back to other sites, Jeremy drove his friends over to the stadium and parked his car there for the day. Lisinski was asleep on the strikers’ bench, never mind that Tony and Bobby were making a serious racket getting the Trojans’ gear ready for the trip. Jeremy flagged a few of the freshmen down to roll the stick racks out to the parking lot as each was finished. Jimenez split everyone else up onto their rows in the locker room so he could take roll easier. Whichever line was fully present first got to board first. Unsurprisingly the goalkeepers won, as there were only four to account for, and the five dealers were close behind them.
The charter bus came with a team of two drivers who would switch out halfway through and who fortunately looked significantly more awake than the athletes filing onboard. There were fourteen rows of seats, though the first four rows were reserved. Each coach got a pair of seats, and the row ahead of Rhemann and Lisinski was reserved for the drivers. Tony, Bobby, and Angie had the row right behind them, and the Trojans were free to spread out as they liked in the rest.
With only forty open seats and twenty-nine bodies, it was inevitable that some of them had to share. The usual suspects piled in together, but Jeremy hesitated when he spotted Tanner standing beside Lucas’s seat. Lucas and Haoyu had been inseparable their freshman year, but Travis’s arrival last year meant someone had to be the odd man out. Lucas had drifted to the outskirts and sat alone ever since. He wouldn’t agree to Tanner’s intrusion—except he did after only a brief argument against it. Maybe he was just too tired to fight.
“All set?” Rhemann asked at his back.
“Set,” Jeremy agreed as he dropped into his seat.
Rhemann slipped past him to finish his headcount. He did it twice: once on his way to the rear, then on his way back, and he gave the driver an okay to get on the road. Jeremy closed his eyes as the bus pulled away from the stadium, and he was asleep before they even turned onto the 10.
-
The Trojans made good time, pulling into Salt Lake City just before five. It was earlier than the Utes perhaps wanted to host them, but since the Fox and Raven game started at seven eastern, USC was more than happy to stick to their locker room. Warmups and a game of their own would keep the Trojans from watching all of it, but Jeremy might catch most of the first half. He was off the bus right behind the coaches and had the locker room TVs on as soon as he could find them. Two were already set to the right station. Jeremy turned the third off rather than mess with it and stood silent and still as the starting lineups were called to the court.
Despite the Foxes’ bold words on Tuesday, Wymack was taking no chances. His freshmen were sidelined tonight, and he filled the court with his strongest players: Kevin and Neil on offense, captain Danielle Wilds as starting dealer, and backliners Matthew Boyd and Aaron Minyard in the rear. Andrew Minyard was the last on, and he propped his racquet to his shoulder as he nonchalantly took his spot in goal.
Jeremy was distantly aware of the Trojans filling in the space around him. The only one who mattered right now was Jean, who was staring at the TV with a tense look on his face. Jeremy could only imagine what was going through his head. He’d rejected the Ravens’ way of doing things, but his relationship with the violent team was a complicated mess that would likely take years to untangle. Jeremy knew he’d watched their championship games, but for most of that time he’d still been a Raven in hiding. Now they were strangers to him, an obstacle Kevin and Neil needed to crush.
He almost asked, but Jean beat him to speaking with a flat, “She is not captain.”
“Wilds?” Cat asked.
“Lane,” Laila guessed. To Jean she asked, “Unqualified?”
“It doesn’t matter how talented she is,” Jean said. “The master would have never approved—”