House of Windows by Alexia Casale Read Free Book Online Page A

she marched off towards the river, looking like she was either going to cry or savage someone with her teeth. Tim flinched when he turned to find Nick watching. ‘Oops?’ he said, raising his hands in a ‘who, me?’ gesture.
    ‘Why have I already seen two women angry with you when you make this big deal of being an “everyone’s best pal” sort of person?’ Nick asked.
    Tim ignored the question. ‘What happened to the other newbie Mathmos?’
    ‘Pub.’
    ‘Why didn’t you suggest a coffee shop instead?’
    ‘Because I don’t need to start term with them all resenting me.’
    ‘For making them go for a coffee instead of a pint at …’ Tim slipped his phone from his pocket, checked the time. ‘It’s only noon. That’s early even for Freshers.’
    ‘I want people to get coffee because they want me to be there too, not out of pity, OK?’ Nick snapped.
    ‘They don’t even know you yet,’ Tim said. ‘If they start choosing to go to the pub when they do know you better, then you can take it personally.’
    ‘You really think reminding them that I’m too young to drink is going to help me make friends?’
    ‘It’s the truth. And maybe one of the others doesn’t drink anyway.’
    Nick snorted.
    ‘Yeah, OK, it’s unlikely, but honestly, Nick, if you go about expecting the worst of everyone so you never give them a chance to like you fair and square, don’t you think that’s kind of a self-fulfilling prophecy? Maybe they simply didn’t think. Sometimes people are just straight inconsiderate – or outright thick. It’s more common at Cambridge than you’d imagine: heads in the clouds, feet in our mouths. Hey, was that almost a smile?’
    Nick bit his lip, but his mouth pulled up into a grin anyway.
    ‘Come on. If you’re heading home, you can tag along with me to Trinity Street while I continue to dispense sage advice. Like, next time you should get in there first with a suggestionof coffee – or better yet, tell everyone you want to go get currant buns at Fitzbillies for the sake of tradition. If they still insist on going to the pub, I give you permission to sulk to your little heart’s content.’
    They pushed into the p’lodge, Tim detouring past his pigeonhole.
    ‘Here,’ he said, grabbing a couple of student newspapers off one of the window seats and thrusting them into Nick’s arms. ‘A copy of the first Varsity and TCS of your Cambridge career.’
    ‘So why were you giving the tour anyway?’ Nick asked, falling into step beside Tim as they let the street-side door of the p’lodge swing shut behind them.
    ‘Gosswin arranged for me to do some work for College over long vac to pay for my rent, ’cos I’ve been a bit short of blunt. Part of the deal was helping out with Induction.’
    ‘Didn’t you go home at all then? Is that usual for … What are you? MPhil? PhD?’
    ‘MPhil, converting to a PhD. At least that’s the plan. You can’t go directly to PhD any more from a BA.’
    ‘Well?’ asked Nick, when Tim didn’t go on.
    ‘Well what?’
    ‘Why were you here all summer?’
    Tim shrugged. ‘I like it here.’
    ‘But how about your family?’
    ‘Look, Nick, the invitation to walk together doesn’t mean it’s open season on my private life, OK?’
    Nick stopped. ‘Right. So you get to criticise everything Ido without even knowing me, but I don’t get to ask you why you’re messing around with first years? Good to clear that up. See you around.’
    Tim watched him hurry back into College. ‘Nice, Brethan. Exactly what Gosswin meant when she asked you to be friendly.’

Chapter 5
    (Induction Week × Matriculation Day [≈ first week of October])
    So much for being a font of local knowledge. Nick trudged after the rest of the Freshers, following the JCR Welfare Officer leading the ‘Beyond College’ Tour. They’d started with the New Museums Site, where Nick would be having most of his lectures, and then headed over the road and through one of four huge arches