It had been a shitty week; Andrew barely saw Nathaniel off the court on Friday night, nor did he get to bash Rikoās head with his racquet. Then Pig Higgins showed up on Saturday, entirely unwelcome and unwanted, the bearer of news that only reinforced Andrewās belief in how shitty the universe was. He had to deal with another round of questions from Aaron and the upperclassmen. Then there were the terse texts from Nathaniel during the week, sparse that they were, which indicated that all was not well at the Nest (as if one couldnāt tell from Rikoās unhinged interviews where he ranted about the Ravens ādecimatingā the Foxes during their game on Friday).
Andrew had a little to vent during his training session with Val on Sunday; they were out in the backyard, sweatshirts discarded on the porch and tank tops damp with sweat from the intense practice. Val had taken Andrew down twice so far, but heād landed a killing blow on her once and aimed to do so again before they called it quits.
Val feinted to the left, which Andrew pretended to fall for while preparing for a strike at his ribs. He ādroppedā his knife and caught it with his left hand while he blocked her weapon and allowed her to barrel him into the ground, intent on raising his blade to her throat.
They stilled on the ground, Val half-sprawled on top of him with his knife below her chin and hers off to the side, their eyes locked on the other. Then she laughed as she leaned back onto her haunches. āHa! That was good.ā She rocked onto her feet and held out a hand, which Andrew begrudgingly accepted. āYouāre becoming an actual challenge now.ā
āSo happy for you,ā Andrew drawled, voice thick with sarcasm.
āYeah, youāre a real sunbeam like that.ā
