When they arrived at Coach’s office, Harvard was already there. His shoulders were slumped, and Nicholas thought he seemed tired, but then Harvard looked up and gave Nicholas a smile. Nicholas beamed back. The captain mustn’t like mornings, either. Nobody with sense liked mornings.
Eugene came into the office next. He fist-bumped Nicholas, but Nicholas was so tired he missed the fist bump and ended up punching Seiji in the arm instead. Seiji glared.
Then Coach dragged in Aiden and closed the door behind them. Harvard’s back went sword straight. Aiden’s hair and clothes looked even more wrecked than they had yesterday. Nicholas wasn’t the fussy kind like Seiji, but he had to wonder if Aiden had forgotten what hairbrushes were.
Was the whole team in trouble? Nicholas guessed they were. They didn’t have a match on the schedule yet, so he didn’t know what else it could be. He supposed Aiden had been in detention a lot lately. Nicholas had seen him there, sleeping on a desk with his head cradled in his arms.
Granted, Nicholas saw him there because he, too, had been in detention, but he only had it the regular amount. In fact, he was in detention less lately than ever before! Seiji’s rigorous training program meant Nicholas didn’t have much time to break the rules.
But this time he must have broken some rule by accident. That was easy to imagine. What was difficult to imagine was the captain breaking rules. Maybe Seiji and Harvard had been summoned so they could be disappointed in Nicholas together? Nicholas waited in dread.
But when Coach finally sat down at her desk, she was smiling. Her goodwill seemed to suffuse the whole room, like light glancing off a blade.
“Good news, team! Thanks to a very generous donation from Mr. Katayama, the whole fencing team will be attending Camp Menton. Pack your bags, kids. We’re on our way to France.”
Eugene leaped to his feet and gave a cheer. “Bro! I mean, Coach… Coach bro. Wow!”
On his feet, he scanned the room for an outlet for his enthusiasm and settled for giving Nicholas a double high five. This time, Nicholas didn’t miss.
“Right, that camp in France,” Aiden said carelessly. “Is that this weekend?”
He was leaning back in his chair. It was weird how Aiden, even with his clothes and hair a mess, made something like leaning back in a chair look cool. Maybe that was why he had a circle of fans who followed him wherever he went.
“Lost track of time?” Harvard asked, his voice strained.
“I was playing around,” drawled Aiden, stretching. “All work and no play makes… someone a dull boy.”
Nicholas shot Aiden a shocked look. Aiden made mean jokes frequently, but never to the captain! Harvard shrugged and glanced away, though, so maybe it wasn’t a big deal. Harvard must be used to Aiden’s jokes.
Nicholas’s train of thought was derailed by the sheer pressure of Seiji’s gaze. Seiji’s stares were often unnerving, but this particular one felt as if there were holes being bored through Nicholas’s face.
“Nicholas!” Seiji snapped, as though he were a highwayman demanding Nicholas’s money or his life. “Are you pleased?”
“Oh my God,” said Nicholas, totally forgetting Aiden’s weirdness as the revelation sank in. “Yeah! I can’t believe it! Are we actually going to France? Not to brag, but I have a passport.”
“They don’t give poor people passports?” demanded Seiji, who’d led a sheltered life.
“Only forty-two percent of Americans have a passport,” Coach informed him.
Most of the team seemed startled to hear this. Nicholas rolled his eyes. Rich kids. Who cared, though, he was going to France!
“Coach,” Nicholas blurted out, “may I be excused?”
“I suppose you can, Cox.” Coach was glowing. “Pack light; get ready to train hard.”
“Totally, Coach,” Nicholas assured her. Then he jumped up, grabbed Seiji’s sleeve, and dragged his roommate out of the office.
Nicholas and Seiji careened down hallways, which were all walnut paneling and white plaster, adorned with portraits of gray-haired dudes, as Nicholas searched for the shortest person in Kings Row. Other students scattered out of their way, terrified by Seiji’s baleful stare. Seiji had strong opinions about his personal space. Another student had once patted Seiji’s arm in class. Five minutes later the poor guy’d asked to go to the infirmary because he’d developed a headache in the ensuing icy, outraged silence.
“Nicholas, it’s ridiculous to drag me around the place,” Seiji complained. “Nicholas, I’ve pointed out frequently that—”
That was when Nicholas spotted his quarry. He let go of Seiji’s sleeve and pounced on Bobby Rodriguez.
“Bobby!” he yelled. “Guess who’s going to France!”
He grabbed Bobby in a hug. Bobby hugged him back enthusiastically. Then the pair jumped up and down together. Bobby was wearing a turquoise ribbon in his hair today, and several sparkly turquoise earrings. He looked cool; that was nothing new for Bobby.
Bobby beat Nicholas’s chest enthusiastically with his small fists. “You’re going to Camp Menton? Nicholas, that’s amazing! You’re going to have so much fun. A foreign country, all those fencers…” Bobby paused to consider. “You know what? I’ll go, too!”
Nicholas blinked. “What? How? I mean, you’re not on the team and it’s—it’s expensive.…”
“Please. I’ll just ask for this to be an early… Arbor Day present. My parents will totally say yes,” said Bobby with a grin. “Plus, I know everything about Camp Menton! They let friends and family attend as part of the audience during training so students don’t have to travel by themselves. I’m a friend! We’ll have so much fun!”
“Yeah!”
Nicholas beamed. Bobby was as frenzied about fencing as Nicholas was. It was the first thing they’d bonded about.
“Besides, you’ll need support,” said Bobby. “Camp Menton is supposed to be totally intense and hard-core.”
“Yeah, I can handle that,” Nicholas assured him. “And then I’ll use my new skills to win at state!”
“I know you will! We’ll learn so much! I heard a German fencer came back with his footwork totally transformed—”
“Why are they like this?” Seiji murmured.
“Not sure,” grunted Bobby’s best friend, Dante, leaning against the opposite wall.
Bobby noticed Seiji was there and stopped doing his happy dance. Nicholas was left doing a happy dance by himself, which must have looked kinda dumb. Bobby was never subdued except when he was around Seiji, because Bobby was so wowed by Seiji’s fencing prowess. He went quiet and blushed whenever Seiji spoke to him. Nicholas understood the feeling but thought Bobby should get it together. The weird silences were making Seiji believe that Bobby disliked him, and Nicholas wanted them all to be awesome friends.
“Hi, Seiji.” Bobby pulled on his ribbon and went red. “I didn’t see you there. I mean, not that you’re easy to overlook! You’re very… striking.…”
Seiji obviously didn’t know what to do about being called “very striking.” He stood with his back held stiffly to the paneled wall. Nicholas was pretty sure this particular aloof stare from Seiji meant he was feeling awkward.