Chapter 10 Sneak Peek! - Stormweaver II

As Aria led the way, pressing across into one of the low rows to pick a seat near the lecture podium at the front of the class, even he had to work not to look surprised as Grant followed them, tailing Viv at Rei’s back to claim a chair to her right, making their group a foursome that took up most of their claimed aisle.

What was stranger, though, was that Rei couldn’t bring himself to be as displeased about this fact as he might have been a week or two ago…

“You don’t have to sit with us if you don’t want to…”

Rei’s ears perked up even as he set his bag down beside his chair, and on his left he saw Aria freeze too as she heard Viv whisper sidelong to the Mauler.

Grant scoffed quietly. “You think I’d rather sit on my own?”

“No, I just… I meant you can sit with your friends, if you wanted to. I can see you at lunch…”

Grant gave another snort, reaching into his bag to pull out a stylus and pop it between his teeth to hold onto as he dragged out a large pad next. Setting it up at a propped angle on the desk before him, only then did he free his mouth up again, turning the pad on with a tap of the screen even as he answered.

“I want nothing to do with those guys, Viv. Barely ever did in the first place.”

Glancing around briefly as he freed his own smaller pad from his bag, Rei thought Viv looked rather pleased as she pulled the cap of her uniform off her head to set it on the table, fidgeting with it as though just to have something to do. Turning in his chair, then, he braved a look up the rows until he caught a pair of angry blue eyes.

For once, though Mateus Selleck’s irritation wasn’t directed at him, but rather at Grant’s back. Meanwhile, on either side of the Saber, Tad Emble, Camilla Warren, and the legendarily gossipy Phalanx Leda Truant seemed uneasy, glancing between Selleck and Grant as though unsure of what to make of the situation.

Catching Warren’s gaze briefly as she looked their way Rei couldn’t stop himself from grinning, and was about to wave back sarcastically when his vision was suddenly blocked by a wide, familiar form.

“Before you say anything: Kay made us swear not to ask you about Sectionals, so don’t worry about that.”