“I’ll buy corn dogs, bro,” Eugene said hastily.
“Sweet,” said Nicholas.
Everything was going his way today.
“You’re actually happy?” Eugene asked. “You’re not just being polite?”
When they got back from the fair, he’d give Seiji the watch. He was sure Seiji would be thrilled.
Nicholas grinned. “Yeah. Can’t wait to see Seiji’s face.”
“I am picturing Seiji’s face as well,” Eugene said. “I’m very worried about him in general right now.”
“Why?” asked Nicholas.
“No reason!” said Eugene. “Let’s go to the fair!”
They arrived at Kingstone Fair a little late, when it was already in full swing. The yellow of the stalls matched the yellow leaves fluttering down from the trees. Nicholas wasn’t used to all this nature, but, like most things surrounding Kings Row, he thought it was nice.
When Harvard and Aiden wandered by, still looking happy and hand in hand, it seemed like they were having a nice date.
Aiden’s face was far more pleasant now that he was dating Harvard. Nicholas was coming around to the idea. Eugene started forward to intercept them, but Nicholas grabbed Eugene’s jacket. Harvard and Aiden were clearly in their own little world right now and should not be disturbed. Nicholas really thought Eugene could employ more tact.
Eugene turned to Nicholas in distress. “If I was concerned that one of my teammates might be a master criminal, the captain would want to know, right?”
“Don’t interrupt the captain on his date!” commanded Nicholas, and dragged Eugene away.
Eugene protested faintly, but Nicholas felt Eugene deserved to be dragged. The captain must be left alone to do his romance.
“Eugene, if this is about the shoplifting, I don’t do that anymore!” Nicholas snapped once they were safely behind the popcorn vendor.
“That’s not it, bro…,” Eugene mumbled, but what else could he have meant?
Nicholas shook his head, but he tried to be understanding. Eugene didn’t get how the real world worked, so he thought Nicholas shoplifting a few candy bars when he was a little kid made him a thief. Whatever. Nicholas didn’t want to spoil the fair. They met up with Eugene’s weight-lifting buds, and they all went on the roller coaster together. Nicholas thought it was totally fun, but afterward, Brad threw up fried dough and cotton candy in a nearby trash can.
“Aw, no, bros,” murmured Chad. “Our delicate flower.”
“He’s gotta toughen up,” grunted Julian. “You spoil him. I’m only saying it for his own good!”
Nicholas and the bros got Brad water and stood around patting him on the back and commiserating that he must’ve got a bad corn dog. (“Every time, bro,” Eugene whispered in Nicholas’s ear. “This happens every time. Brad can’t accept he doesn’t have the stomach for the fun rides.”)
By the time Brad felt better, it’d started to rain. It started off as only a sprinkle, but the sky above the Ferris wheel looked gray and serious. Rain in Kings Row was different from rain in the city, where no matter how much rain fell, the sidewalks only got a wash. Here, the whole fairground would turn to mud, and Seiji got extremely sharp about mud being tracked into the room.
Other Kings Row students had navy raincoats that went with their uniforms, and all across the sparkling fairground, Kings Row boys were producing raincoats to go over their jeans and sweatshirts, transforming them into proper Kings Row students again. Not Nicholas, though. Raincoats were considered an accessory and seemed to Nicholas a wasteful luxury. He held his jacket over his head and ran home, happy enough that the rain had started. He’d enjoyed the festival, but he wanted to go back to Kings Row and show Seiji that he’d gotten his watch fixed.
He found Seiji not in their room or the salle but in the common room, sitting at one of the desks and frowning at his essay in the light of a stained-glass green lamp that cast an otherworldly glow on Seiji’s face. A raincoat hung on the back of Seiji’s chair, and his attitude was one of intense concentration.
“Sorry for interrupting your peace and quiet,” said Nicholas.
Seiji didn’t appear surprised to see him. “That’s all right; I’m done now.”
“You’re… done with peace and quiet now?”
“I assume,” said Seiji after a moment’s pause. “Since you’re here.”
Nicholas dismissed Seiji behaving oddly. It happened all the time. He and Seiji found each other hard to understand, Nicholas was used to it, and Seiji wasn’t mysterious in a jerky way like Aiden or Jesse. With pride, he laid the mended watch down on the desk Seiji was working at.
“Just wanted to give you back your watch.”
“My watch?” Seiji asked blankly. “What watch?”
“The one I broke?”
“Oh,” said Seiji. “I’d forgotten about that.”
After all the trouble Nicholas and Eugene had gone through. Nicholas rolled his eyes and pushed the watch across the desk in Seiji’s direction.
Seiji considered the watch for a long moment. The lamp on the desk with its green glass shade caught the new plastic surface of the watch, making the plastic look pinker than it had outside. Nicholas felt a brief moment of misgiving. Was the watch… too pink?
“That’s good the watch is working efficiently again,” Seiji told him, taking the watch and fastening the band around his wrist. “I’m glad you had the basic consideration to replace what you broke.”
Nicholas glowed. “Knew you’d be pleased.”
Then he frowned. Seiji’s raincoat was hanging on the back of his chair, which Nicholas was leaning against. When Nicholas touched the coat, his hand came away wet.
“Seiji!” said Nicholas. “You weren’t in the salle the whole time. Where were you? Did you… try to join us at the fair after all?”
“Of course I didn’t!”
He must have. Nicholas thought Seiji definitely looked shifty. He was totally fibbing about something.
“Aw, bro,” said Nicholas, trying out Eugene-speak.
“Bro?” Seiji repeated with evident horror.
“No?”
“No,” Seiji said with decision.
“Okay, no to bro. Noted,” said Nicholas. “Anyway, next year you should come to the fair with us.”
That was a nice idea. Being at Kings Row next year, belonging at Kings Row, maybe, more than he did now. By then, Nicholas would be so much better at fencing, and he and Seiji would officially be rivals.
“By next year I will probably have killed you,” said Seiji.
Score, Nicholas thought. That wasn’t a no.
22: AIDEN
Usually when Aiden had trouble sleeping, Harvard would bore him to sleep. That custom had started during their first sleepover as kids, when Aiden was nervous in a new house and worried that if he got something wrong, he wouldn’t be invited back to Harvard’s. They had put the blanket over their heads, and Harvard had told Aiden the most boring story he could think of, all about Harvard Paw’s adventures in the adult world.
“And then Harvard Paw went all the way to the bank,” Harvard would whisper. “And then Harvard Paw said, ‘I know you don’t like politics at the dinner table, dear, but I simply must say…’”