FenceStriking Distance - Sarah Rees Brennan Page 0,36

a selfie showing Seiji was in his room.

“Dormitory rooms are designed to be uniform and anonymous,” Seiji pointed out. “The picture could be taken in any room, including my own. It would prove nothing.”

This seemed to dampen Bobby’s enthusiasm for a moment.

“I’ll know you were here!” Bobby said eventually. “Let’s just take it!”

Seiji took the picture willingly enough, since it would please Bobby, but it was a strain to figure out how to behave in unfamiliar surroundings. The least Nicholas could do was help him, but instead he was sulking in the corner. The only reasonable explanation was that Seiji had offended him. Seiji was always offending people, though Nicholas seemed to bounce back faster than most.

Seiji couldn’t figure out what the problem was. He hadn’t said anything worse to Nicholas than he usually did.

There was the incident on Friday night with Jesse by the side of the road, but that had obviously been more upsetting for Seiji himself than for Nicholas. What reason did Nicholas have to care about Jesse? Seiji supposed that Nicholas might be sad to have an excellent fencer looking down on him, but Nicholas must accept that would keep happening until he got better.

Nicholas had no personal reason to care about Jesse. Other people cared a lot about what Jesse thought of them, but Seiji couldn’t picture Nicholas caring. Everyone liked Jesse better than Seiji, but Nicholas wouldn’t. Not even if, for some reason, Nicholas got to know Jesse and Jesse actually tried to be charming. Even then, Seiji was sure, though he didn’t have much basis for the certainty, that Nicholas would still like him better.

So it wasn’t about Jesse. It was something Seiji had done. But what?

Seiji got up, though it seemed awkward to do so, and sat next to Nicholas. He usually sat beside Nicholas, but Nicholas hadn’t explicitly saved him a seat. There was no seat to save, though. It was all floor.

Nicholas didn’t say hey or anything welcoming, like usual. Seiji sat there in silence and resented Nicholas for being angry with him.

“Want marshmallows?” offered Bobby.

That made Nicholas smile, even though he was giving Seiji the cold shoulder. “Yeah.”

Were they supposed to eat marshmallows as a side dish to pasta? That was disgusting.

“I don’t want marshmallows,” said Seiji. “Nicholas, reconsider eating marshmallows.”

Nicholas turned his furious dark stare on Seiji. Seiji stared back stonily. He didn’t even know why Nicholas was angry. People were always getting angry with him and never explained why. Nicholas was just like everyone else.

“If you want to go somewhere,” Nicholas mumbled, “you can just go.”

Many people had made clear to Seiji that his presence was unwelcome, but Nicholas never had before. Seiji glared at him and moved away. He didn’t care that Nicholas didn’t want him here. He was used to that, but he was shocked by Nicholas’s rudeness. Seiji had been invited to the midnight feast, just the same as Nicholas. This wasn’t Nicholas’s room.

Not that Nicholas could uninvite Seiji to his room. Since it was Seiji’s room, too.

Seiji nursed his justified outrage at Nicholas’s bad manners while Nicholas continued to sit sullenly in the corner. Seiji was enduring rudeness and expected to eat carbohydrates at an inappropriate hour with strangers. Harvard, who had arrived dragging Aiden behind him, went over to Nicholas and started telling jokes to make him laugh.

Seiji supposed Nicholas must have decided to be friends with the captain instead. That was fine with Seiji.

Eugene sidled over to Seiji and offered him a protein shake. Eugene had brought enough protein shakes for everyone, which Seiji found thoughtful, though nobody else had greeted the shakes with the appreciation they deserved.

“I made you hydrolyzed whey protein isolate like you like,” Eugene said encouragingly.

“Thank you,” said Seiji.

It was good Eugene was drinking protein shakes, which would optimize his performance, and considerate of him to provide Seiji with the same. Eugene was the only person at the midnight feast with whom Seiji wasn’t annoyed.

“You seem a bit quiet, bro,” Eugene remarked in a low voice. “Not that you’re what I’d describe as chatty, but normally you’d have accidentally insulted someone by now. Something wrong?”

He was tempted to snap, but Eugene was a teammate, too.

Seiji cleared his throat. “Nicholas is angry with me. I’m not sure why. Do you know why? I know you two socialize frequently.”

Eugene paused. “I don’t think Nicholas is angry with you.”

“No, he is,” said Seiji. “He told me to go away.”

“He probably just meant that you could go practice in the salle