I am a bad person trying very hard to be a good person.

Before I forget, Andrew said I could invite you to the Halloween party at Eden's Twilight. It's on the twenty-seventh." Matt dropped his sandwich back to his plate with a splat. "Bullshit." "Andrew doesn't socialize with us," Dan said. "He's making an exception," Neil said.[...]"How the hell did you talk Andrew into this?" Dan asked, staring at Neil. "I asked," Neil said. "And he agreed just like that?" Matt asked, skeptical.

Neil liked outrunning and outsmarting the defense. He liked the rush of a perfect score. He liked the pressure and the triumph. The rest of his life was a frightening mess; Neil needed the power and control of a fierce game.

I'm sorry." Nicky sent a pleading look at Neil to save him from his thoughtlessness. Neil didn't have to intervene, because Allison followed Nicky's frantic glance to Neil. "You do like the mountains, don't you?" "I cut through them once," Neil said. "We didn't stay. Is this really okay?" "Is it okay, he says," Dan said, "like we didn't all just invite ourselves to his vacation.

One day I want you to look up 'insensitivity' in the dictionary," Matt said, annoyed. "I'm sure it'll do your ego wonders to see your picture printed there beside it.

But mostly he thought about them as the people he'd spent the evening with, the people he was getting to know almost against his will. They'd never be perfect, but they were going to be all right. They'd come to the Foxhole Court as fractured messes but they were fixing each other one semester at a time.

Nicky was still looking at Neil like he was the world's biggest mystery.

Neil hit Riko," Matt said. "It was beautiful." "What?" Nicky squawked. "Not fair! I missed it! Go do it again. Or not," he added quickly when Wymack leveled a death glare at him. "You can't blame a guy for dreaming, right, Coach?

Rude," Nicky said, sitting up and looking between them. "What did you just say? I can't understand you. That's not fair." "Think about that the next time you use German at my practices," Wymack said. "That's different," Nicky complained. "I only see that look on Neil's face when someone tries to do something nice for him, but we all know Kevin's as bratty as they come. What did you say, Kevin, and do I need to defend Neil's honor or what?

She came to Neil last and stayed with him, feeling the line of his shoulder armor through his jersey. "How are you doing?" Neil drained both cups before answering. "I'm fine." Nicky fist-pumped in triumph. "Thank you for being so predictable, Neil. You just scored me ten bucks with two words." Matt looked up. "Are you serious? Who the hell bet against you?" Nicky jerked a thumb at Kevin. "There's a sucker born every minute.