Aftg react

Part23

Foxes react: chapter10 (chp9 was skipped on purpose it was not by accident but by my opinion there was not really something to Wow that the should have reacted to.)

They were in the middle of small talk when the screen started, with the dark atmosphere from before having cleared out.
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"Tell me a little about yourself, Neil."
"What do you want me to say?" "Where are you from?" "Millport, Arizona."
"I haven't heard of it."
"It's a small place," Neil said. "The only people who live there are either too old to move out or too young to escape. There's nothing to do except play sports or bingo. We only moved there because it's halfway between Tucson and Phoenix. My mother worked in one and my father the other."
"What do they do?"
Neil hadn't talked about his family much in Millport, but he'd arrived in Arizona already knowing who the Jostens were and what their problems were like. The answers he'd kept from
his high school classmates and coach would have to be good enough for Betsy.
"Mom is an engineer," Neil said. "Dad's halfway through CDL training."

"I don't know how he was able to you know keep track of what he said to who, I know I would fuck it up" said Nicky "for most it would be hard but we have to keep in mind that Neil learned to lie for most of his life so something like this is easier for him to do" said Renee and Nicky nodded in understanding.
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"Will they come out to watch your first match?"
Neil affected surprise. "No. Why would they? They don't like sports."
"But Exy is obviously very important to you, and you are their child," Betsy said. "What you've accomplished here is nothing short of amazing. I wondered if they might come out to support you."
"No. They don't really—" Neil gestured as if searching for words. "We're not close like that. They made sure I got to school and got my checkups and kept my grades up, that kind of thing, but they didn't know my teachers' names or watch any of my games. It's not going to change now that I'm in college. They live their lives; I live mine. It works for us."
"Does it?"
"I said it does," Neil said. "I don't want to talk about my parents with you."

"Well it looks like he doesn't want to talk with anyone about his parents, at least not the truth" said Aaron with a roll of his eyes, it got him some looks from someone but no one really wanted to start anything so nothing was said.
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Unlike his English class, the chemistry professor only spent a few minutes reviewing the syllabus before starting on an overview of introductory chemistry. His voice was an unwavering monotone that could put any living creature to sleep. Neil resorted to stabbing himself with a pen every time he started drifting off.

Moments like these really never failed to bring the mood up it was refreshing and a nice break from the other depressing shit, but to not know when they will leave and how many more things they are going to see always left a bad taste behind.
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His room was empty when he showed up, so Neil settled at his desk with his syllabi. It was only the first day of school and he already had three assignments: a short paper, a fifty-page chapter to read, and a page of questions about said chapter. Neil debated for a minute as to which one sounded least painful. Five minutes later he was still uninspired, so he put his head down on his desk.
He didn't realize he'd fallen asleep until a gunshot jarred him awake. Neil bolted upright so fast he sent his pile of textbooks crashing to the ground.

Caught the attention of all of them, not knowing how something like that could happen with out anyone knowing anything or find out about it. It put everyone on edge, but nothing bad would have happened right? The didn't notice anything wrong with him the next days so it rose to many questions.
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Too late he realized the crack he'd heard wasn't a gun but the lock snapping undone on the suite door. A bemused Matt stood in the doorway.

It brought relief to everyone some letting their sighs of relief out louder than others "ah shit I really thought" said Alison, some where looking at Matt who looked embarrassed him himself having forgotten it it was funny to see him so panicked about it but it don't last long when they started to realize that it would have not been the first time something like that might have actually happened. They remember the shot wound he had, it changed the mood so quickly it could give anyone a backlash.
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"Hard at work already, I see," Matt said dryly. "Something like that."
"I'd say it gets easier, but." Matt shrugged. "You should
probably cut back on your late practices now that classes are in session."
"I'm fine," Neil said. He knew he'd never give up those practices. If he had to choose between class work and Exy, the answer was obvious. Neil was only here for a couple more months. He wasn't going to give up a single second of his time on the court no matter what else it cost him.
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"You say that an awful lot," Matt said. "I'm starting to think you don't know what it means."
There wasn't really a good way to answer that, so Neil let it slide. Luckily Matt didn't push it but crossed the room to his computer. Neil spent the last half-hour until practice thinking about October and the Ravens.

They had no time to even smile at the oh so true comment Matt had said it was swallowed by Neil's monologue, him saying that he would leave the panic he felt when thinking about the Ravens, but something was known he had not left yet. It brought relief even if they knew it was dangerous for them all but it still washed relief over them.