Total pages in book: 177
Estimated words: 163209 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 816(@200wpm)___ 653(@250wpm)___ 544(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 163209 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 816(@200wpm)___ 653(@250wpm)___ 544(@300wpm)
“Yes,” Jean said, before adding, “I do not know these teams except on paper.”
“Oh, I guess you wouldn’t. Most of them are pretty cool—to us, anyway. Quite a few have serious issues with each other. The only one who wants to beef with us in public is White Ridge.” Cody hummed thoughtfully and tugged idly at the grass. “Normally we just kill ‘em with kindness until someone else intervenes or they embarrass themselves by being awful, but I don’t think it’s gonna work this time. Not if Jeremy’s going, I mean.”
Jean stilled with his last strawberry halfway to his mouth. “If.”
Cody misunderstood and flicked Jeremy a keen look. “Unless you changed your mind?”
“No,” Jeremy said, staring up at the sky. “I’m still going.”
Jean frowned at them both. “It is a mandatory event. Attendance is required.”
Cody looked at Jean like he’d grown a second head; Jean stared back and waited for someone to explain this new insanity. After a few uncomfortable beats Jeremy finally pushed himself up on his elbows and explained, “I haven’t been to a banquet since my freshman year. Coach has always excused me.”
“If the ERC finds out you’ve been skipping—”
“They know,” Jeremy cut in, with a smile Jean didn’t believe for a second. Jeremy didn’t explain but tugged at his shirt and said, “Didn’t notice this cologne until you drew attention to it, but you’re right, it’s unbearably strong. I’m going to go scrub it off and put on something that doesn’t smell. You mind getting him down to the stadium later?” he asked Cody.
Cody’s mouth thinned to a hard line, but all they said was, “Yeah, I’ve got him.”
“Thanks!” Jeremy hopped to his feet and left.
Cody watched him walk away, and Jean studied Cody’s serious face for any clues. At length Cody gave a sour, “Bright as a broken bulb and still in the running for valedictorian. I will never understand it,” and scooted so they were facing Jean. “You really don’t know? Even if he hasn’t said anything, it was all over the news a few years back. Oh, wait.” They hesitated and counted years on their fingers. “I guess you weren’t in college yet. We wouldn’t have been on your radar.”
It was only half-true. Jeremy had started his freshman year one year ahead of the perfect Court, but Kevin tracked the Trojans’ seasons too obsessively to miss his arrival. Maybe Kevin knew what Cody was dancing around, but Jean had never bothered to read the articles Kevin shared with him that year. Like he’d told Kevin, his reading hadn’t been strong enough to try. And like Kevin had accused him, Jean had been ultimately more interested in the accompanying photographs than whatever the text might have said. Jean pushed such thoughts aside as useless and forcibly focused on Cody.
“You weren’t,” he lied.
Cody muttered unintelligibly as they scrubbed at their face: stalling, Jean guessed, as they figured out what to say on the matter. At length they gave an explosive sigh and dropped their hands to their lap. “Well, most of it is public record. I can give you the press-friendly story now, or you can wait to see if Jeremy is feeling truthful later. Either way, we at least need to talk about Noah. There’s a non-zero chance some asshole will bring him up tomorrow, and I know Jeremy won’t want to talk about him.”
“Former Trojan,” Jean guessed.
Cody winced. “Jeremy’s baby brother.”
A new name; the missing piece. Jean remembered the child who appeared in only one photograph in Jeremy’s house; he remembered the hoarse edge in Jeremy’s voice as he confirmed his brother’s death. Four years this August, he’d said, and Jean knew how this story would end. He almost told Cody he didn’t want to hear this story, but Cody was already picking through an uncomfortable explanation.
“Noah was Jeremy’s plus-one at our freshman banquet—not by choice, but I missed a couple details on how he got saddled with him. Polite enough kid, but very obviously not okay. Any time Jeremy got distracted by anyone or anything else, he just kind of...” Cody passed a hand back and forth in front of their face and affected a vacant stare before finishing with, “...checked out. Jeremy said he was just tired and bored out of his mind, so I let it go. Not the kind of guy you wanted to get in an argument with back then, you know?”
Jean had no idea what that was supposed to mean, but this wasn’t the time to get sidetracked. He tucked that comment aside for later as Cody continued. “Jeremy got invited to an exclusive afterparty, so he sent Noah back to the hotel alone. Probably figured he’d watch TV or go to sleep early, but Noah went up to the roof instead. Security footage had him at the rooftop lounge for about three hours.” Cody rubbed away a sudden chill before saying, “When he finally got up, it was to go over the railing.”