Total pages in book: 127
Estimated words: 117363 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 587(@200wpm)___ 469(@250wpm)___ 391(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 117363 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 587(@200wpm)___ 469(@250wpm)___ 391(@300wpm)
“Jean Moreau, I presume. Thanks for stopping by today. I hear we’ve got a couple fractures to check up on.”
“A couple what?” Jeremy asked.
Davis turned his frown on Jeremy. “You were the one who told the coaches he was sidelined with injuries. I assumed you knew the extent? My mistake.” It wasn’t quite an apology, but Jean seemed unruffled to have his business spilled. Davis motioned for Jean to enter. “I’ll have him back to you as soon as I can. Close the door on your way out. Now, if you please,” he said when Jeremy hesitated.
Jeremy swallowed every question he wanted to ask and saw himself out. He knew better than to linger and instead went back to the locker room. He had his phone out as soon as he sat down on the nearest bench. He tried calling, but Kevin didn’t pick up. Jeremy checked the time, added three hours, and settled for texting: “You didn’t tell me they broke bones?? That’s not hazing!”
He knew he wouldn’t get an immediate answer if Kevin wasn’t available to take his call, but he stared down at his phone and willed Kevin to take a break from whatever he was in the middle of. It was all for naught; Jean hunted him down before Jeremy got a peep from the east coast.
“Hey,” Jeremy said. “Do you want to talk about it?”
“I’m on track with Winfield’s estimate,” Jean said, as if that was the question Jeremy was asking. “Davis approved me for easy stretching, but he won’t let me near weights until I’m a bit further along.”
“I—That’s good, but that’s not what I meant. I knew you were injured, and Kevin said it was bad, but I didn’t think…” Jeremy trailed off before trying again. “I shouldn’t have made you walk here, sorry. We could have brought my car.”
“My legs are healed,” Jean pointed out. “I should be ready by the time practices start, but he insists on assessing me again before he will sign off on me.” For a moment his expression slipped; the frustration that pulled hard at his mouth was all self-directed irritation. “I haven’t been taken off the court this long in years. I’ve fallen unforgivably behind.”
“I’m literally begging you,” Jeremy said, holding up a hand. “For five seconds just forget that Exy is a thing and focus on the fact that your own teammates really hurt you.”
“Accidents happen in scrimmages,” Jean said.
Jeremy wondered what Jean would say if he knew Kevin had already called it hazing. There was, of course, the slightest chance Kevin had exaggerated to appeal to Jeremy’s better nature, but Jeremy refused to believe it. Laila had already said it: Edgar Allan would not let one of the best backliners in the country go if they had any means to keep him. Something had gone horribly wrong at Evermore.
Jeremy teetered between his options: call Jean out on his lie and force him to come clean, or let Jean hide behind his story a little longer. In the end he leaned toward discretion because he didn’t want Jean to go after Kevin. He still needed Kevin’s help if he was going to navigate this year and Jean’s increasing number of issues.
“We don’t check like that around here,” Jeremy said, hating himself a little for letting it slide. “We can’t not hit each other, but we don’t hit to hurt, only to control the flow of the game. So long as you don’t do anything reckless to set yourself back between now and then, I can’t imagine they’ll keep you out of practices.”
It wasn’t what he wanted to say, but it was the right thing to say, judging by Jean’s quiet but firm, “I am not reckless.”
Not a correction, but a promise: Jean would not do anything that would further delay his return to the court.
“Come on,” Jeremy said, getting off the bench. “I’ll show you the way to the fitness center. We’ve actually got a couple on campus, but our team uses Lyon. We could go back the way we came, but I want to see if the bookstore’s open.”
He led Jean out of the stadium and locked the gate behind them. It was an easy walk north to campus, and Jeremy smiled as they headed down tree-lined sidewalks. Most of his siblings dreamed of leaving the city, but Jeremy had known all his life he wanted to attend USC. He loved everything about it, from the architecture to the well-claimed space to the way it managed to feel private and safe despite the major city hugging its borders.
He’d said the campus tour would wait until he could show Jean the more relevant buildings, but it was hard not to point out landmarks as they passed. Jean even tolerated a brief detour into Alumni Park to see the fountain and obediently studied the Tommy Trojan and Traveler statues when Jeremy stopped them there a minute later. He didn’t look as interested as Jeremy had hoped, but he didn’t tell Jeremy to stop talking either. It would have to be enough for now.