Total pages in book: 99
Estimated words: 109903 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 550(@200wpm)___ 440(@250wpm)___ 366(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 109903 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 550(@200wpm)___ 440(@250wpm)___ 366(@300wpm)
"When I ran away, I kept the phone. I saw my parents die, but I kept thinking maybe I was wrong. Maybe one day they'd call and say it was an act. They'd say I could come home and things would be fine. But the only time it rang it was that man demanding I bring him back his money. I haven't had a phone since. I shouldn't have one now. Who am I supposed to call?"
"Nicky, Coach, the suicide hotline, I don't care."
"I'm remembering why I don't like you."
"I'm surprised you forgot in the first place."
"Maybe I didn't." Neil pushed the phone Andrew's way. "There has to be a better way."
"You could occasionally grow a spine," Andrew suggested. "I know it's a difficult concept for someone whose kneejerk reaction is to run away at the first sign of trouble, but try it sometime. You might actually like it."
"What I'd like is to put this phone through your teeth."
"See, that's more interesting."
"I'm not here for your entertainment," Neil said.
"But, as expected, you are talented enough to multitask. Question for you, Neil. Do I look dead to you?" He pointed up at his face, waited for Neil to answer, and didn't seem surprised when Neil didn't. "Here."
Andrew beckoned Neil closer as if he wanted to show Neil something on his phone's small screen. He flipped the phone open one-handed and pressed down hard on a single button. There was silence, then the distant hum of Andrew's phone dialing out. Between them Neil's phone started to sing. The words were different than Andrew's ringtone, but the voice was the same. Neil knew it was from the same miserable song. The lyrics hurt just as much as Andrew's had. Neil stared down at the phone and let it ring.
"Your phone is ringing," Andrew said. "You should answer it."
Neil picked it up with numb fingers and opened it. He spared only a second to look at Andrew's name on the screen before he answered and put it to his ear.
"Your parents are dead, you are not fine, and nothing is going to be okay," Andrew said. "This is not news to you. But from now until May you are still Neil Josten and I am still the man who said he would keep you alive.
"I don't care if you use this phone tomorrow. I don't care if you never use it again. But you are going to keep it on you because one day you might need it." Andrew put a finger to the underside of Neil's chin and forced Neil's head up until they were looking at each other. "On that day you're not going to run. You're going to think about what I promised you and you're going to make the call. Tell me you understand."
Neil's voice had left him, but he managed a nod.
Andrew let go and snapped his phone shut. Neil closed his own with a quiet click. After looking down at it for another endless minute, he leaned over and put it in his messenger bag. Andrew watched with hooded eyes until Neil sat upright. Neil didn't want to look at him when he wasn't sure he'd gotten his expression back under control, but he couldn't help it. Andrew considered him a minute longer, then sighed and straightened out of Neil's space.
"If you're done having issues, take your turn. Kevin is probably fuming waiting on you."
Neil meant to ask about Kevin, but the phones reminded him of another problem. He could bother Kevin for a better explanation of his deal with Andrew. This other question was something only Andrew could answer.
"Why did the Oakland PD call you?"
"Right for the throat. Maybe not so spineless after all," Andrew said, amused. "Children's Services is opening an investigation into one of my foster fathers. Pig Higgins knew I lived with them, so he called me looking for testimony."
"But you won't help him."
Andrew flicked his fingers in dismissal. "Richard Spear is an uninteresting but relatively harmless human being. They won't find anything to pin on him."
"You sure?" Neil asked. "Your reaction was a little extreme for a misunderstanding."
"I don't like that word."
Neil hesitated. "Extreme?"
"Misunderstanding."
"It's an odd word to have a grudge against."
"You don't have any room to judge other people's problems," Andrew said.
Andrew swung his leg over the bench and got to his feet. Neil guessed that meant the conversation was over. He reached for his workout shorts as Andrew left. The door had barely closed behind Andrew before it was pushed open again. Andrew was right; Kevin looked thoroughly annoyed he'd had to delay practice for them. Neil expected some sort of scathing rebuke, but Kevin's angry movements spoke for him.
They finished changing as quickly as they could and worked out their stress on the court. Andrew was waiting for them when they were done, looking half-asleep on his feet, and they went back to the dorm together. Neil changed for bed in the bathroom, pushed his discarded clothes aside with a foot, and sat on the side of the tub. The overhead light glinted off the curved surface of his phone where it was nestled in his palm.
It felt like an eternity before he could open it. He slowly scrolled through the menu and wasn't entirely surprised to see Andrew had already filled out his contacts list. He'd even set a couple speed dials. Andrew was first, then Kevin, then Wymack. Neil had no idea why the team's psychiatrist was programmed as an emergency contact. He had no intention of speaking to Betsy Dobson again. Neil deleted her information.
When his contacts list refreshed, Neil went to his call history. One name was listed with two timestamps beside it. It wasn't his mother's name, but it wasn't his father's, either. Neil would learn to live with that one day at a time.
-
Neil's phone went off the next morning and startled five years off his life expectancy. Neil was packing his things to leave his Spanish class when he heard the distinctive buzz. He dropped his textbook immediately and dug his phone out of the depths of his bag, mind going a million miles an hour on everything that could be going wrong.