Chapter 1
When David Wymack knocked on Ronan Lynch's door, Ronan took one look at the Palmetto State hoodie he was wearing and shut the wood in his face. Wymack tapped his fingers along his forearm and turned to look at the two of the other nine Foxes standing off the porch. Kevin Day turned to Neil and gave him a look of familiarity. Neil rolled his eyes and walked up to the door, and knocked on it with more force than his coach had. This time when the door was opened, a slightly more friendly face appeared. Ironically it was another potential athlete the Foxes had drove to Henrietta for. Adam Parrish stood in a loose pair of sweats and a thrown on flannel. He did not look like he wanted company, though he didn't rudely disregard them. Neil didn't offer his hand but said, "Adam Parrish. I'm-"
"Neil Josten. I know who you are."
"Well, we are here-"
Adam didn't seem all that fazed to interrupt the college star again when saying, "Nino's Pizza. One hour if you can find it."
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Note that it wasn't very hard to find this said Pizzeria. Wymack had driven his own car there, taking Kevin with him. Andrew Minyard had came with the three purely because he had no where else to be this summer and Aaron Minyard was spending all his time with his girlfriend Kaitlyn and his cousin Nicky Hemmick flew to Germany four days after winning the championship with his fiancé Erik Klose. Andrew screamed at them to leave when he found them in Nicky's dorm room doing unspeakable things to each other and bought tickets the next hour. Therefore Andrew mapped out his summer to be where ever Neil was.
Andrew took a left into the Nino's parking lot, noticing his car wasn't out of place in this area. His Maserati fit nicely with the row of Camaros and BMWs. Andrew parked as far away from the building as he could, though it wasn't that far considering how small the parking lot was. He lay back in his seat for a moment, not doing anything. Neil turned his head in a silent questioning. Andrew didn't reply and just slammed out of the car. Neil disregarded his attitude, Andrew would be a good thing for the recruits to see. To see that the Foxes weren't a paradise vacation, maybe a rocky hike. But if they did sign they would see real fast that they were a family.
Lynch and Parrish were sitting in a back booth with four other people. One that Neil recognized from last year's starting lineup for Aglionby. The girl he knew was from the public school. Richard Gansey the Third and Blue Sargent sat hand in hand with another boy he didn't recognize and another stranger was sitting next to Ronan making lame conversation that Ronan seemed vaguely interested in. Slowly the four Foxes made way and the conversation the table had ceased instantly. Gansey was the first to stand up and actually shake Wymack's hand. He offered it to Kevin and Neil as well, adding a smile that was much too bright for Neil's trust. When Gansey started to give his hand to Andrew, Andrew gave him a blank stare in which Gansey sat back down, A table had been pushed to connect with the booth table and four chairs. The Foxes took a seat and Wymack started," My name is Wymack, we are from Palmetto State-"
"Listen, sorry to interrupt, but you're not about to sign Ronan without signing the rest of this table- exempt from me." The boy next to Ronan said. Wymack gave an amused stare, having heard this before. He said," Who are you?"
"Noah Czerny."
Wymack nodded," Well, who is he?" He gestured at the Asian boy that suddenly dropped Blue's hand. Gansey replied," He doesn't play Exy."
"I can answer for myself, Dick." The boy answered. There was no heat in his words, so Neil assumed Dick was an actual nickname rather than a curse. "I'm a cheerleader."
"We don't sign cheerleaders. That's not our job." Kevin spoke. It was the first time any of the players said a word. This attracted the attention of the Henrietta kids. Blue smiled at him," I don't think you understand. He's gonna get the scholarship he applied for."
"Not our problem or care." Wymack said bluntly. "Now, listen. We want Lynch and Parrish on the team. Critical for us to be able to be eligible for Class I this year. We need at least 12 players which means we need at least three new players. No one else has caught our attention as these two and Henrietta was quite hard to find. If getting them means another two players than so be it."
"So you're signing all of us?" Blue asked. She tugged on her short green hair that reminded Neil of Renee's hair. Wymack sighed," Sounds like it."
"That was easier than I thought," Blue replied. Neil noticed Ronan, actually had been watching him for quite sometime. He had a far away stare, disinterested in this conversation. He turned his gaze to his left where Andrew sat and saw a twin of the stare. Neil looked at Adam and saw him staring at Andrew. Neil and Adam's gaze connected and broke after several seconds. When Neil came to, it seemed Gansey and Wymack finalized a deal. Neil knew Wymack could sign the players, it was the same deal with the cousins less than three years ago. Andrew got up in the middle of the meeting to smoke, ignoring Neil's silent protest. The time wrapped up with the sharing of details- the four freshman would be arriving to Palmetto in two weeks, leaving two weeks to become accustomed with the court and other players and get caught up with practices. With that Neil left without saying anything, along with Ronan and Adam.
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"We can ask Maura and them to take care of her." Adam said when he and Ronan were safely in the Barns, Ronan hammering a new wooden window to the side. Opal was creating her specialty dish- mud pie with extra worms- nearby, getting the dress Blue made for her more dirty than the ground itself. Ronan would hose her down later if she didn't run. Ronan took a break for water and leaned against the doorway," I hate being away from her that long, you know that. Even when you and I want alone time for a weekend..." He didn't need to finish his sentence. Ronan was protective of his basically adopted daughter he pulled out of his dreams. Adam smiled at this, knowing he was just as worried for her. Permanent residence with 300 Fox Way might be good or might be bad for her. But they'd visit as much as possible. Ronan knew how much this meant for Adam, a college education- a scholarship. Especially since Adam refused Ronan's offer to give him a full ride. Ronan's deal wasn't much of a scholarship considering his grades were atrocious, so his time at Palmetto would be coming out of his own pocket.
Adam met Ronan's gaze and reached over to kiss his cheek, knowing Ronan would do anything if Adam was kissing him. Ronan glared, not giving in until Adam kissed his mouth. When they pulled away, Ronan nodded. "Let's do it."