Total pages in book: 78
Estimated words: 87395 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 437(@200wpm)___ 350(@250wpm)___ 291(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 87395 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 437(@200wpm)___ 350(@250wpm)___ 291(@300wpm)
He might have been joking, but Neil nodded anyway. Anyone who could make Matt look delicate was not someone Neil wanted to face on the court.
Nicky looked at Neil. "Hey," he said, sounding uncharacteristically hesitant. "We haven't really had a chance to talk after… Well. I wanted to say sorry, but I kept chickening out. Are we okay?"
"I don't know yet," Neil said.
Nicky weighed that for a minute, then sighed and said, "Fair enough."
The referees slammed the doors with a resounding bang and bolted them shut. There were vents and fans along the ceiling to keep air circulating on the court. The vents would let out echoes of serves and checks, but the players would have to yell for their voices to filter out into the stadium. Neil didn't know what they were saying to each other now as they waited for the game to start, but he doubted it was pleasant seeing as how Seth was flipping off one of the Jackals' strikers. Seth turned the gesture on Kevin a couple seconds later.
"Oh Lord," Abby said at Neil's back. "They could at least pretend to get along when playing against this team."
"Not a chance!" Nicky said. "Ten bucks says they hit each other inside fifteen minutes."
"I'm not taking that," Allison said.
"You could try to be optimistic about the first game of the season," Renee said.
"Maybe you saw who we're up against," Nicky said, pointing at the opposing team. "You really think optimism is going to help us?"
"I think it can't hurt," Renee said with a smile.
Allison started to say something, but the warning buzzer drowned her out. If Neil looked up he could almost see the scoreboard where it hung over the dead center of court. A clock, the score, and shots on goal statistics were displayed on all four sides, as were screens for replays and close-ups. Right now the board would be counting down the last minute to game start, but Neil didn't strain to see. He didn't want to take his eyes off the court. He pressed his gloved hands to the wall and leaned forward, trying to see all of it at once. His heart pounded in his chest, sending shuddery heat through every inch of his body. He held his breath waiting for first serve.
The buzzer went off again, and the game began. Breckenridge's dealer flicked the ball into the air and slammed it with his racquet. The distinctive crack had Jackals and Foxes breaking formation and rushing forward to find their marks and places on the court. The nerves Neil felt earlier evaporated under the wild weight of the crowd's enthusiasm. Their screams jarred against his skin and the stamping of a hundred thousand feet beat in time to his pulse. Two bodies crashed on the court as the game started rough from the get-go. There was a roar of approval from the rafters.
The ball hit the wall in front of the subs and went careening away. Dan caught it before it went far and threw it to Seth. Her momentum sent her into the wall further up and the Jackal dealer slammed into her a second later. The wall shuddered under their weight. Dan practically threw him aside to get back into the game, and the subs pounded on the wall in support.
Neil raked his gaze along the court, past the Jackal striker that was struggling with Aaron. Aaron and Matt were pushing the Jackal strikers up the court away from goal, but they didn't want to leave too much empty space between them and Andrew. Andrew stood alone on the white line marking the goalkeeper's territory, watching the game unfold in front of him. He spun his racquet in a circle, mocking the Jackals' efforts with that carefree stance.
The ball hit the wall further down the court, and Neil turned his attention back to it. Dan was the first to it again, and she sent it high over Seth's head. Seth and Gorilla raced each other up the court to catch the ball on the rebound. Seth caught it but couldn't hold it for long. He carried it only half a step before Gorilla took a swipe at his racquet. It didn't look like much of a strike, but it sent Seth's racquet flying. Gorilla caught the ball as it bounced off the ground and turned to heave it all the way down the court. It hit the wall a few inches to the right of the home court goal. Andrew watched it bounce away.
One of the Jackal strikers got around Matt and ran for it. Andrew stopped spinning his stick and shifted, readying himself just in time. The striker took a fast shot on goal and Andrew beat it forcefully away, sending it right back down the middle of the court. The Jackal dealer tried to catch it, but it was going faster than he anticipated and it bounced out of the net of his racquet. Dan stole it from him. He bowled her over in response, and the ball went rolling away. Dan beat her stick against the ground in anger as she scrambled back to her feet to chase him. The Jackal dealer already had the ball and was running toward home court.
"Atta girl," Abby said. "You've got him."
Dan couldn't catch up to him in time to stop him from passing the ball, but she didn't slow. She slammed into the dealer hard enough to send them both sprawling. Jackal fans roared in outrage, demanding a card for that trick, but the referees didn't move. Body-checks were only legal when played by or against players who were carrying the ball, but allowances were made for hits that happened in the first two seconds after the ball left a player's net. Officials knew sometimes athletes were simply going too fast to stop in time. It allowed a loophole for spiteful collisions like Dan's, but that only made the game more fun for the fans.
Aaron was small enough he could get duck under his striker's arm. He intercepted the ball in an impossible move and kept spinning back to face home court. He passed the ball to Andrew without slowing and was back on his feet a heartbeat later. Andrew hit the ball with an underhand swing to clear it out of home court. The ball bounced off the ceiling and fell back into the fray.