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 if you’re hating the midnight feast, dude,” said Eugene. “Your face went all grumpy cat when we broke out the marshmallows.”
Seiji opened his mouth to protest that Nicholas never cared when Seiji made faces, and never told him to go away, but Eugene continued.
“I think there’s something else going on.”
Seiji gave Eugene his full attention. “What?”
Eugene turned his protein shake in his hands for another moment. “We went to town Saturday, and some Kings Row guys there were awful to him. It’s been bothering me all weekend, actually. They acted like they were so far above Nicholas. They made it seem like he was going to shoplift! Which he wasn’t!” Eugene added hastily, as though Seiji might imagine Nicholas would.
The burner’s blue flame hissed. Harvard was talking about how delicious the pasta sauce smelled. Their captain was very good at making conversation.
Seiji frowned. “Why would people from our school represent Nicholas as a common thief?”
“Right? It sucks!” said Eugene. “You might know them? They were the first two guys to wash out of fencing tryouts. They think they’re so much better than Nicholas.”
“They think they’re better than Nicholas?” Seiji asked sharply. “But they can’t fence at all!”
“Bro…,” said Eugene. “I realize this concept might be difficult for you to grasp, but this is not about fencing. They were just being jerks.”
Seiji raised an eyebrow. “I’m familiar with the concept of people being jerks. Certain people on the fencing circuit used to refer to me as a samurai.”
Eugene’s open, friendly face was taken over by a confused scowl.
“Because I’m Japanese, and I’m excellent with a sword,” Seiji explained. He rolled his eyes. “Extremely droll.”
“Yeah, I’m familiar with those kinds of jerks, too. You should hear the stuff they say about me,” Eugene said, and buffeted Seiji with his shoulder. Seiji almost dropped his protein shake. “They think they’re better than Nicholas because he doesn’t have a lot of money.”
“Oh, Nicholas is on scholarship, isn’t he?” Seiji recalled. “Does his family have less money than most people at Kings Row?”
Another hissing burner silence ensued.
“Uh…,” said Eugene. “You hadn’t noticed that Nicholas is a bit different from everyone else?”
“Well, yes, obviously I have noticed that! What’s that got to do with money?”
Eugene wasn’t being very helpful.
Seiji considered this matter on his own. He supposed Nicholas spoke differently from other people, even though Nicholas didn’t come from very far away. He’d believed it must be a personal idiosyncrasy.
“Have you realized that Nicholas doesn’t have a lot of stuff?”
Seiji had noticed that Nicholas didn’t wear pajamas, like a normal person. He basically wore underwear to bed.
Was Nicholas too poor for pajamas? That was so sad.
“So, because Nicholas doesn’t have any money, these students mocked him by pretending he would steal?” Seiji clarified. On Eugene’s nod, Seiji scowled. “And now he’s upset. That’s wrong.”
To Seiji’s horror, Eugene slung an arm around his shoulders. Seiji had no idea why he was doing that. Eugene couldn’t possibly think bears would attack in Bobby and Dante’s room.