#a lil bit late BUT HERE WE ARE SECOND BOOK LETS FUCKING GOOOOOOO

[nickireadstfc]

The Raven King, Chapter 1 – The Show Must Go On (And By Show We Mean Exy)

In which practices stop for no one, Wymack rules at pep talks, family sentiments are expressed to Neil via a seating order, and Andrew reaches new levels of Fucking Weird And Disturbing With A Side Of Asshole.

Sounds good? Then it’s time for Nicki to read The Raven King.

Before we begin, let’s take a look back at the foolish predictions I made a while ago about the rest of the first book (which my dumb ass forgot to include in last week’s summary):

Neil will be able to do all of the Raven drills eventually didn’t happen yet, we remain hopeful

Nicky and Neil will talk about the Club Situation yup! (kind of)

Alternatively, and even better: Andrew and Neil will talk about the Club Situation nooo sadly not

MORE KANDREIL TIMES hopefully if you count Neil defending Kevin on national television and Andrew almost punching Riko afterwards then yAAA

Either Riko or Coach Moriyama will appear HO BOIII

We will learn something about Renee’s backstory no snowflake backstory for us yet :(

Coach Wymack will be the best person alive JINX I know that’s gonna happen #dicksoutforwymack “Breaking news: I don’t care” my man

Neil will say more beautiful and savage things, dropping shade left and right HO B O I I I I

Seth will fuck off to somewhere (a girl can dream okay) oh my sweet summer child you were nOT PREPARED

I am starting to get why y’all keep telling me I am not prepared for anything that’s to come. I’M NOT.

And with that said, welcome to The Raven King! Even the cover tells us that playtime is over: It’s not the happy orange we had previously, it’s black and red and no doubt filled with violence, abuse, mean boys, infighting, and heaps of shade.

Let’s fucking go.

           It looked like Halloween outside, only two months too early. Last week Palmetto State was covered in orange and white streamers to celebrate the start of the school year. Over the weekend someone had replaced all of the white ribbons with black ones. It gave the impression that the campus was in mourning. Neil Josten thought it a cheap tribute, but that might have been his cynicism talking.

Shut the fuck up, Neil, that’s a cool as shit. My school would have probably put up one or two black ribbons on the flags next to the school gate and that would have been it. Your college decorated the entire campus. That’s a great tribute, shut up.

The book starts off with Neil and the Monster Squad on their way to the first practice after Seth’s death – gracefully scheduled for Wednesday afternoon, which is when Andrew will be in therapy.

Why not sooner, you ask?

           Generally, Andrew’s wild mood wasn’t a problem, but Andrew’s cheer didn’t make him at all friendly. An excitable Andrew confronted with the death of his least-favourite teammate was a recipe for disaster. The team should have come together Sunday morning to grieve their loss, but Andrew and Matt got into an ugly brawl instead.

Sigh. ANDREW, WHY.

I have a slight feeling Andrew’s drug-induced moods are going to play an important role this book. Just a hunch.

           Seth died Saturday night and was cremated Monday afternoon. From what Neil heard, Seth’s mother signed off on everything, but didn’t even show up at the crematorium to collect her son’s ashes.

What the fuck. What the fuck kind of mother is that. What sort of human being cares so little for their own children they won’t even show up to their funeral what the fuck.

This is the saddest shit I’ve read all day. Sure, they’re all from ~broken homes~ and whatever, but still. Some of you were also pointing out that it’s been said before that he was on antidepressants. This and how little fucks his family appears to give about him makes me feel even more sorry for him.

Ughhh. Why do I get them character feels only after his death. This sucks major ass.

           The Foxes were already the smallest team in NCAA Class I Exy. Now they were the smallest a team could be and still qualify to play. They’d lost their only fifth-year senior, and their remaining offense team consisted of an injured national champion and an amateur.

Meaning if Neil or Kevin want to take a time-out they just… can’t?

Boy, I’m sure there I absolutely nothing that can go wrong with that.

           Kevin’s presence on the team mean the Foxes needed full-time security, but the numbers had doubled over the summer when Kevin’s former team transferred to the southeastern district. Neil was getting used to seeing campus police everywhere he went, but he would always hate the sight of them.

I have a question here, which I’ve thought about before as well: What the hell is campus police? Because Germany doesn’t have that.

Is it just security guards? It’s not actual police, is it? I’m sure those guys will have more important things to do than to play standby watchdogs at a college.

           The door code was supposed to change every couple months, but with the Ravens in their district Wymack now changed it every week. This week it was the last four digits of Abby’s phone number. Neil was starting to think his teammates were right about Wymack and Abby’s secret relationship.

Honestly, how have I not seen fanart for those two yet. They’re cute as shit. Everyone, chill it on the Andreil and give me the fluffy Wymabby (Abbymack?) cuddles my heart desperately wants.

Once in the stadium, Neil finds Kevin and Aaron playing interior designers.

           “What are you doing?”

           “Finding a new way to make us fit,” Andrew said, “unless you want to stare an empty chair in the face all season. (…) Four people barely fit on a coach. Five is out of the question.”

           “Five?”

           Kevin looked at him like he was stupid. Neil was painfully familiar with that look by now, but even after four months with Kevin he still didn’t appreciate it.

           “You do know your place, don’t you?”

Hhhhhhhasdfghjkl.

Another installment in our popular series Neil Doesn’t Realize People Actually Care About Him, episode 3 of a billion.

           Neil hesitated a second too long, and Aaron finally spelled it out for him. “You’re on the couch with Kevin and Andrew. Sit down.”

It’s a Kandreil Couch! Yay!

The Kandreil Kouch™, for alliteration’s sake.

           “I don’t like being boxed in,” Neil said, “and I don’t want to sit next to your brother.”

           “Nicky put up with it for a year,” Aaron said. “You can deal with it.”

           “You’re his family,” Neil said, not like it meant a thing to them.

They’re your family as well now, ya dingus.

Neil has something to say about ~families~, though.

           Wymack only recruited athletes from broken homes. At the Foxhole Court, “family” was a fantasy invented to make books and Hollywood movies more interesting.

Was someone looking for the Extra™ in this book? Fucking found it.

Also, was someone looking for Wymack? Because I was. Where is my fave.

           From what Neil could hear, someone was harassing Wymack about the team’s tiny line-up. Wymack’s obvious irritation made his reassurances less than convincing, but Neil knew he believed every word he was saying. Wymack didn’t care if he had nine Foxes or twenty-five. He’d stand behind them until the bitter, bloody end.

THERE HE IS. <333333

Just in case anyone needed a reminder of why Wymack is, in fact, the best person in this entire series.

           He strode into the lounge a couple seconds later and followed Dan’s finger to Neil. He looked from Neil to Kevin to Aaron, then around the room at the new layout, then back at Neil.

           “Last I checked Andrew didn’t like you,” Wymack said.

           “He still doesn’t,” Neil said, but he didn’t bother to explain.

I’m just imagining Wymack looking around faster and faster like a comic character and I’m enjoying it tremendously.

Also, “he still doesn’t”, sure, honey…

It’s time for arguably the best speech in this chapter: A Grade A Certified Wymack Pep Talk.

           Wymack folded his arms across his chest and studied each of his Foxes in turn.

           “Abby wrote me a speech to give you this afternoon. It sounded nice, had lots of stuff about courage and loss and coming together in everyone’s time of need. I tore it up and tossed it in the trash can beside my desk.”

Why do I find this so funny. I mean, harsh, dude, she put effort into that and it was actually so sweet of her, but also like. That is such a Wymack move and I love it.

           Wymack built the Foxes from the ground up and handpicked Seth for his first starting line. Between the players’ personal problems, a faulty original contract that let players walk out, and the option to graduate in four years instead of five, Seth was the only one who’d made it to a fifth year on the team. Seth had been a lot of things, most of them unpleasant, but he’d definitely been a fighter. Now he was gone.

Curse you, afterwards character feels! :(((

           Wymack cleared his throat and scratched a hand through his short hair. “Look. Shit happened. Shit’s going to keep happening. You don’t need me to tell you life isn’t fair. You’re here because you know it isn’t. Life doesn’t care what we want out of it; it’s up to us to fight for what we want with everything we’ve got. Seth wanted us to win. He wanted us to make it past the fourth match. I think we owe it to him to perform. Let’s show the world what we’ve got. Let’s make this our year.”

An actual leaked picture of me reacting to this speech.

How do I love thee, Wymack? Let me count the ways………. A FUCKTON.

After that rousing example of a pep talk, everyone gets ready for practice, and I discover a completely accidental pun that I can’t believe I witnessed with my own two eyes:

           A vanity separated the toilets from the shower stalls, and Neil stopped there on his way back to consider his reflection. (…)

           He didn’t realize how long he’d stalled until Matt and Kevin came looking for him.

Get it? Cause he’s in the stalls………….

I’ll see myself out.

           “All the way to finals?” Neil asked.

           “Miracles happen,” Matt said.

           “Don’t rely on something as insubstantial as a miracle,” Kevin said. “You won’t win anything by standing around. Finish getting changed and get down to the court.”

           “One day I want you to look up ‘insensitivity’ in the dictionary,” Matt said, annoyed. “I’m sure it’ll do your ego wonders to see your picture printed beside it.”

GET FUCKIN REKT. Matt, baby, I didn’t know you had such hidden sass qualities. Where were you hiding them and how can we see more of them, like, now.

After a bit of training, Nicky and Andrew finally show up, but before Wymack can shoo them out onto the court, something unexpected happens:

Andrew gets a phone call.

If we learnt anything from the last one he got (which was a killer, by the way), it’s that phone calls for Andrew never mean anything fucking good.

           “Pig Higgins, is that you?” Andrew asked. “Oh, it is. Yes, I’m surprised. Did you forget I don’t like surprises? What? No, don’t stall. You wouldn’t hunt me down after all this time just to chat, so what do you want?” Andrew went quiet for a few seconds to listen, then said, “No,” and hung up.

What. What the fuck is happening. How does Andrew have this police officer so whipped that he gets to call him Pig.

           “What? No, I didn’t hang up on you. I wouldn’t do that. I – no. Shut up.”

           Andrew hung up again.

I want to find this funny, but I just find it weird and disturbing, with a side of asshole-ish. He doesn’t seem in the mood for jokes, he seems serious, yet he keeps hanging up and denying it? This is very fishy to me.

           “Go back,” Andrew finally said. “Who complained? Oh, Pig, don’t give me the runaround. I know where you work, you see. I know who you work with. That means there’s a child in her house. She isn’t supposed – what? No. Don’t ask me that. I said don’t. Leave me alone. Hey,” Andrew said, a little louder like he was trying to drown the officer’s arguments out. “Call me again and I’ll kill you.”

WHAT IS HAPPENING. Who is “she”? What is she not supposed to do? And a child? Whattt.

           “Why is the Oakland PD calling you?”

           “The pig and I go way back,” Andrew said. “He just wanted to catch up. (…) He worked with the Oakland PAL program. Thought he could save at-risk kids by teaching them sports after school. Kind of like you, yes? Idealistic to the core.”

Excuse you, bitch, you’re making that sound like an insult and I am not liking it.

After that scene, completely unimpressed by everyone’s gaping mouths and ‘what-the-fuck’ expressions (including mine), Andrew decides to once again demonstrate his absolute indifference to anything Exy and gets the fuck out of there.

           Impatience pulled Kevin’s mouth into a hard line. “Knock it off. You can’t leave.”

           There was a heartbeat of silence, and Andrew turned around with a wide, wicked smile on his lips. “I can’t, Kevin? I’ll show you what I can’t do. Try and put me on your court today and I’ll take myself off it permanently. Fuck you practice, your line-up, and your stupid fucking game.”

           “That’s enough. We don’t have time for your tantrums.”

           Andrew twisted and punched the wall hard enough to split the skin along his knuckles.

Oh my god, chill out, my dude, what the fuck, take a chill pill, calm your tatas.

Obviously, everyone lets him go after that, but Wymack isn’t quite ready to let the entire subject off the hook yet:

           “Answers, now, Aaron,” Wymack said.

           “I don’t know,” Aaron said. (…) “He was Andrew’s mentor, not mine. I only met the guy once.” (…)

           “Oh,” Nicky said in startled realization. “Is he – ?”

           He didn’t finish, but Aaron understood what he was asking.

           “Yeah,” Aaron said. “He’s the one who told me I had a brother.”

OH SHIT. I’m beyond pumped for the explanation of that backstory.

And we’re done! Good first chapter, shade, practice, violence, lil bit of cryptic backstory, standard Fox program as always. Not much has happened yet, though, as it mostly serves to get us back into the story.

I’m excited for more.