Page 84 of Neo
I head straight to the ice house and see some of my teammates getting ready to eat and play some video games. They all look up as I enter, sensing my rage. Bass walks over to me with a questioning look on his face.
“Everything all right, Cap?”
“I just had a chat with President Harmon.”
“What the hell for?”
“I’ve been keeping some things from y’all,” I say loud enough for everyone’s benefit. “I got three offers to leave school and go pro with Vegas, Jersey and Toronto.”
“Oh, shit!” a voice says.
“That’s what’s up,” someone else chimes in.
“But Harmon threatened to take away Violet’s scholarship if I do it,” I seethe.
“Violet?” Someone rumbles. “Why is he fucking with her?”
“That’s not right!” Jack protests.
“I can’t believe he would use her like that,” Bass says bitterly. “Does Violet know?”
“He just threatened me. She doesn’t know.”
And she’ll never know.
Violet already doubts herself so much because of her learning challenges. I’m afraid she’d just use what he said to confirm the doubts she already has about herself.
“Then why was she so pissed the other night at the house?”
“She found the offer letters in my room before I could tell her about them.”
“Oh.” A few of them mutter. “Yeah, my girl would be pissed too.”
“She thinks I was just going to up and leave her,” I say. “Can you believe that?”
“And were you?” Shane interjects, as he descends from the second floor.
“My father was pushing me to take an offer. Now the president is pushing me to do something else. I just needed some room to figure things out.”
“And Violet just wanted you to let her in, so now you’ve got all the room in the world you want,” Shane quips.
“Where is she, Shane?” I point accusingly at him. “I know you know.”
“Tell him, Shane,” some others urge. “Stop gate keeping, man.”
“Seriously, I don’t know,” Shane responds earnestly. “Kennedy and I are barely speaking.”
“I know.” Deuce steps forward, raising his hand tentatively.
“Tell me!” I plead.
“She’ll be back in town Thursday.”
“How do you know for sure?” Bass asks him.
“I checked the trash outside, and she happened to print her travel itinerary.”
“Good work, grunt!” I applaud Deuce.