Fangirl

comfortable up there—a long, dark shadow at the end of the punt—as elegant and graceful as ever. He shifted into the moonlight, and Simon watched him take a slow, deep breath. He looked more alive than he had in weeks.
    But Simon hadn’t come out here to watch Baz—God knows he had plenty of other opportunities. Simon turned, looking around the moat, taking in the carvings along the stone walls and the tile at the water’s edge. “I should have brought a lantern…,” he said.
    “Too bad you’re not a magician,” Baz replied, conjuring a ball of blue flame and tossing it at Simon’s head. Simon ducked and caught it. Baz had always been better than he was at fire magic. Show-off.
    The tile glittered in the light. “Can we get closer to the wall?” Simon asked. Baz obliged smoothly.
    Up close, Simon could see there was a mosaic that stretched beneath the water. Wizard battles. Unicorns. Symbols and glyphs. Who knew how far down it went.… Baz guided them slowly along the wall, and Simon held the light up, gradually leaning over the side of the boat to get a better look.
    He forgot about Baz in a way he normally wouldn’t allow himself to do outside the protection of their room. Simon didn’t even notice at first when the boat drifted to a stop. When he looked back, Baz had stepped toward him in the punt. He was curled above Simon, washed blue by his own conjured fire, his teeth bared and his face thick with decision and disgust.…
    The door flew open.
    Reagan always kicked it as soon as she had it unlocked; there were dusty shoe prints all over the outside of their door. She swept in, dropping her bags on the floor. “Hey,” she said, glancing over at them.
    “Quiet,” Levi whispered. “Cath’s reading fanfiction.”
    “Really?” Reagan looked at them with more interest.
    “Not really,” Cath said, shutting her laptop. “Just finished.”
    “No.” Levi leaned over and opened it. “You can’t stop in the middle of a vampire attack.”
    “Vampires, huh?” Reagan said. “Sounds pretty exciting.”
    “I’ve got to finish my biology essay,” Cath said.
    “Come on.” Reagan turned to Levi. “Plant Phys. Are we doing this?”
    “We’re doing it,” he grumbled, sliding off Cath’s bed. “Can I use your phone?” he asked her.
    Cath handed him her phone, and he punched a number in. His back pocket started playing a Led Zeppelin song. “To be continued,” he said, handing it back to her. “Solid?”
    “Sure,” Cath said.
    “Library?” Reagan asked.
    “Hi-Way Diner.” Levi picked up his backpack and opened the door. “Fanfiction makes me crave corned beef hash.”
    “See ya,” Reagan said to Cath.
    “See ya,” Cath said.
    Levi ducked his head back at the last minute to flash her a wide grin.
     
    If you wanted to meet other Star Trek fans in 1983, you’d have to join fan clubs by mail or meet up with other Trekkies at conventions.…
    When readers fell for Simon in 2001, the fan community was as close as the nearest keyboard.
    Simon Snow fandom exploded on the Internet—and just keeps exploding. There are more sites and blogs devoted to Simon than to the Beatles and Lady Gaga combined. You’ll find fan stories, fan art, fan videos, plus endless discussion and conjecture.
    Loving Simon isn’t something one does alone or once a year at a convention—for thousands of fans of all ages, loving Simon Snow is nothing less than a lifestyle.

    —Jennifer Magnuson, “Tribe of Simon,” Newsweek, October 28, 2009

 
    THIRTEEN
    Cath wasn’t trying to make new friends here.
    In some cases, she was actively trying not to make friends, though she usually stopped short of being rude. (Uptight, tense, and mildly misanthropic? Yes. Rude? No.)
    But everyone around Cath—everybody in her classes and in the dorms—really was trying to make friends, and sometimes she’d have to be rude not to go along with it.
    Campus life was just so predictable, one routine layered over another. You saw the same people while you were brushing your teeth and a different set of the same people in each class. The same people passing you every day in the halls … Pretty soon you were nodding. And then you were saying hello. And eventually someone would start a conversation, and you just had to go along with it.
    What was Cath supposed to say, Stop talking to me ? It’s not like she was Reagan.
    That’s how she ended up hanging out with T.J. and Julian in American History, and Katie, a