GENTRY

22

The next day is the final rugby game of the season. More than half the campus goes out. Rugby is the most prestigious and popular team sport on campus, and though the rugby team isn't recognizable at the national level, it is one of the better ones in the state's league.

Kai is preparing all morning. He hangs out with the other jocks, eating bulky foods and warming up. They've got to win. He needs something good to have happened this semester, without a caveat.

It gets dark out early. The stadium's lights brighten the field, but the sky is still dark above them. It is cold; it is mid-November. All of the initiates come out to support Kai. Even Tom, who is decidedly hungover and in a sour mood.

Evelyn and Felix decided after the Tom fiasco to go together. They arrive early, at Evelyn's request. She's going to talk to Kai after, telling him it's over. She feels bad for breaking his heart, but she knows that Felix is the one for her. He buys her cotton candy, and they sit in the stands.

After a few minutes of giggles and cuddling close to share warmth, Ez arrives. The two scoot apart and so he sits in between them and pulls out a book. Felix and Evelyn share a look and Evelyn giggles.

"What?" Ez asks. He looks at the cover of his book. "It's another collection of short stories."

Vieira comes as well. She was hoping to see other art students and talk to them, but she doesn't recognize any faces in the crowd. Evelyn spots her nearby and waves her up the bleachers. Vieira sighs, her exhale a puff of grey air in the cold. She heads up and joins them as well.

Jetta and Roman join as well. Roman wasn't going to come, except Kai had asked them last night, and so they felt obligated. Jetta almost snuck in liquor but decided to have a few drinks before going. She always gets excited by live sports, and she wanted a bit of a buzz to put her at ease.

"It would be rude not to join them," Luis says to Ellie, beside him. "Almost as rude as murder."

The more time Ellie spends with Luis, the more unsettled she becomes, "probably. We are supposed to be strangers though."

Luis did this to protect his friends, not for anything else. He'll be damned if their indecent act keeps him from them. He grabs Ellie's hand and nods for her to join him, "come on."

They head up the bleachers together and join the others. Evelyn offers some of her massive wad of cotton candy to Ellie, who shakes her head.

Tom comes. He is depressingly sober, but also more awake than he has ever been. He drags himself up into the stands and sits beside Ellie, on the farthest end away from Vieira. He doesn't even look at her.

She looks at him though, and cannot help but feel terrible, horrific pity. It grows and grows, more than her feelings ever did for him.

He doesn't notice. Winter has come on the garden of flowers he grew for her.

"Where's Briar?" Evelyn asks, her voice chipper.

Ellie sighs, "with Artemis, I imagine?"

"Who?" Ez asks, leaning forward.

"Some guy who met Ellie at the masquerade," Luis answers. "She's infatuated."

Ez remembers seeing her with someone strange. Not strange because he was a stranger, but for other reasons.

Down behind the bleachers, Briar is holding hands with Artemis as they walk up.

"Are any of your friends here?" Briar asks. "I'd love to meet them?"

"As I said, I find most people pretentious," Artemis says. "Not like you."

That's all Briar needs to hear. She is not her father's daughter, as rich and powerful as he may be. Instead, she sees the others in the bleachers.