chapter sixteen
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She was leaning against her motorcycle, arms crossed as Matt's truck came into view and he stepped out, along with Dan and Renee. Maeve and Dan greeted each other as they always did, her with a struggling smile and Maeve by dipping her chin in acknowledgment of her presence, both for Matt's sake. This time around Renee didn't hesitate and she stepped forward, arms wrapping around her waist.

     "Loved the new playlist." She exclaimed.

     "Yours too." Maeve hesitantly patted her shoulder while counting to ten before pulling back, she'd definitely reached her limit on hugs for one day.

     Matt already had an arm around Dan, but reached over to tug at a chunk of her hair, a 'hey' on his tongue when she noticed the conflict behind his eyes and asked what had happened.

He looked to Dan before sighing and going on to explain the hallway fight that had broken out between Kevin and Neil, followed by his intervention. From what they could gather, Neil had been the instigator and definitely had more secrets than they knew what to do with. Now Dan was even more freaked out because she didn't know how to mediate between a group of strangers she had no choice but to call teammates and their latest addition to the team.

     "Said it was a "difference of opinions"." Matt shook his head.

"Yeah, that spells bullshit with a capital 'B'." Maeve rolled her eyes. She wanted to hear the other side of the story, but she couldn't really approach Kevin when she had no idea what it was that they were doing and whether it'd continue past summer break.

Sure, just that morning they'd been making out in her bed before anyone else woke up, but from the very beginning she'd been the one to draw the line between them and say their hookups would change nothing for the upcoming school year. She'd be a hypocrite to go to him now and say that she changed her mind because she wanted the scoop on Neil, who she'd also been rejecting from the start.

On one hand, hearing of the animosity between Neil and the group was strange, considering they'd been not quite chummy, but close enough to it before they'd moved from Abby's and Coach's to Fox Tower. Then again, their initial meeting with him had Andrew stealing his breath with a racquet and Kevin basically calling his opinions irrelevant. And then there was her, telling him that he was a nobody going nowhere and calling him some kind of disaster.

The trio made their way inside and she stayed.

It was less than five minutes before Nicky was speeding into the lot and parking their car on the other side of Maeve's bike. She turned around as doors opened and closed.

Andrew merely raised an eyebrow, and she switched over to his beloved German.

"You got your turn with him."

He clucked his tongue with a slight shake of his head,"So dramatic." Still, no further explanation was needed and he motioned with two fingers for the rest of the group to go on inside before giving Neil the laziest shove in her direction,"Careful, I don't like sharing."

She switched back to English,"Sucks to suck. Leave."

When he finally did walk away, she faced Neil, who rolled his eyes,"Feeling a lot like the monkey in the middle, what do you want?"

"To ask you a question." She shrugged,"A simple one, yes or no will suffice for an answer— do you have a death wish, Neil?"

He stood upright,"What?"

"Is it your intention to wind up six feet under before the end of the year?" She took a step forward,"Yes or no? If yes, continue whatever the fuck it is you've got going on with Andrew. If not then I'd suggest changing your game plan before you end up on the wrong side and Andrew makes your life a living hell."

Neil scoffed,"Who says it isn't already?"

She smirked,"Look at that, another smartass, you and Kevin must be getting along great."

"You sure seem to have a lot of interest in Kevin." He shot back.

"Takes one to know one." She said.

If his spine wasn't straight before, now it went rigid as he seemed to come to a conclusion on his own. His paused to take her in, measuring her height and determining her strength, probably weighing his odds against her.

Maeve tsked,"If you're smart you won't even try it, Neil. I don't know what went down between you and the others, it's clear you have some serious trust issues to work through, but don't worry, you'll have someone to help you with that. All I'm saying is don't go pointing fingers before doing your research, you've got eyes for a reason and your mouth looks better shut. We've got enough going on without you going and starting shit you're not willing to finish."

     He eyed her carefully for a little longer,"What side are you on?"

     She shrugged,"You tell me."

"I don't get you." He said in resignation, but didn't elaborate.

Maeve figured she'd made her point, she wouldn't ask him what it was that the group did to piss him off now, miscommunication had been the leading cause of most of their problems since the Foxes came to be.

"That makes thirteen of you." She dismissed as she started walking,"C'mon, cub."

"Cub?" He followed her in.

"You're a rookie." She explained casually,"Our baby Fox, if you will."

"Hm."

     As soon as they entered the locker room, Andrew pointed out to Dan,"Look, one piece."

     "After many showdowns, might I add." Nicky saddled up beside them while Maeve made a beeline to Abby.

     "How's the first day back?" Her godmother asked with a knowing smile.

Maeve ticked off two fingers,"We never left, they exhaust me."

Wymack gave a loud and boisterous laugh,"We haven't even started and you're already tired, just wait until we actually have practice. This is gonna be a fucking shit show."

"David." Abby scolded.

"He's actually right for once." Maeve shrugged and Abby looked between them both before shaking her head.

"That's not allowed to happen."

"What?" Both she and Wymack asked at the same time and Abby rolled her eyes.

"You two. You're not allowed to agree."

"Scared we'll team up against you and win?" Wymack smirked at her.

"Yes." Abby didn't even bother denying it, but their conversation was cut short as Dan came over to talk to Wymack while they waited for Allison and Seth to arrive.

It took nearly twenty minutes, and Wymack grumbled when they finally walked through the door,"You're slowing this down, butts in chairs— first order of business: Neil Josten, our new striker sub. Got anything to say?" Neil shook his head and he continued,"You already met everyone else, here's the last of them: Seth Gordon, starting striker, and Allison Reynolds, our defensive dealer. Questions, comments, concerns? Anyone?"

"I'm fucking concerned." Seth glared across at Neil, but he was promptly ignored.

"Alright then, moving on— Abby?" The woman in question passed out stapled stacks of paper,"Same boring forms as always. Sign your name on the appropriate lines and give these back to me first thing tomorrow, you can't practice until I have these on file. Speaking of which, summer practices start at eight thirty, enjoy sleeping in while you can because we're moving to six when the semester starts. We're meeting at the gym, I repeat, we're meeting at the gym. If you're late because you came here instead of there I will put my shoe through your face. You've only been gone for a month, I know you all know how this works."

A chorus of "yes, Coach" went around the room before he resumed.

"Physicals get done before you leave today, Maeve you had yours earlier, so Andrew, you're first. Seth, you're going second. The rest of you draw straws or something, it's up to you, but don't even think of leaving before you've seen Abby." Wymack hesitated,"Last order of business from me today is our schedule."

"Already?" Matt called,"It's only June."

"We don't have dates yet, but the ERC's made some changes that will make this spring look like a cakewalk. They're notifying the coaches in our district one by one to try and control the fallout, it has the potential to get ugly."

"How could it be worse than the shit we dealt with last year?" Seth scoffed.

Matt guffawed, listing them off with his fingers,"Break-ins, threatening phone calls, rabid press, vandalism..."

"There was Maeve's stalker." Seth smirked.

She sat up in her chair and tossed the pen she'd stolen from Abby's clipboard to sign her boring sheets of paper now before she forgot directly at Seth's face,"First of all, that had nothing to do with the shit we went through, second, Hanson's a puppy, dude couldn't hurt a fly and that's why he's such a shitty backliner, he wasn't stalking me, he's just into the chase, and third, stay out of my fucking business, Gordon, or so help me I'll take Allison's stiletto and shove so far up your ass you taste Louis Vuitton every time you swallow for the rest of your life." She stood up to hand Wymack her signed forms,"And lastly, having a stalker isn't something that's funny so wipe that shit grin off your face and worry more about your new sub."

"Good to see you again too, sunshine."

"Call me that again and—"

"Yeah, yeah, I heard you the first time." Seth flipped her off with both fingers and silence swallowed the room as Maeve turned away from him, Dan was the next one to speak.

She cleared her throat and tried picking up where they left off,"Personal favorite was when someone told the police we were running a meth lab out of the dorm, police raids are awesome."

"The death threats were creative though, maybe this time they'll follow through and actually kill one of us." Nicky added, grinning at Maeve next,"Let's vote, I nominate Seth."

Seth's next remark brought Andrew's attention to the conversation as he sent a look his way,"I don't like that word, don't use it."

"I would say "fuck you, freak", but then you wouldn't know which one of you I was talking to." He retorted.

"Don't talk to us at all." Aaron tuned in,"You never have anything useful to say."

"Enough." Wymack put an end to the argument to announce,"We don't have time for petty bullshit this year, we've got a new school in our district."

Instinctively, Maeve turned to look at Kevin. His face was whiter than a sheet of paper and he sat completely still. Internally, she struggled between wanting to curse the distance between them or thank it. She couldn't go to him, shouldn't go to him, and yet... a part of her couldn't help wanting to.

     And that was probably the reason for her walking out before another word could be said and the ongoing shit show continued.

     She was grateful, she decided.

     Or at least she tried to convince herself that she was.