The Restoration Rival novel · Chapter 9 of 21

Chapter 9: Snow Day

The snow started at two in the morning and didn't stop.

By six there was a foot of it on the courtyard and the wind was pushing it sideways.

At seven the university sent a message to every phone.

All classes cancelled. All buildings closed. Do not travel.

Football was off. The studio was off. The library was off.

There was nowhere to go.

I lay in my bunk and listened to the wind against the window.

Lu Chen was awake too. I could hear him turn a page.

At nine I got up.

At nine thirty I made instant noodles in the shared kitchen down the hall and ate them standing.

At ten I came back.

At ten thirty I sat on my bunk with a book I wasn't reading.

At eleven I got up and walked to the window and looked out.

The whole campus was white. The paths were gone. Two students were dragging a sled up the hill.

At eleven fifteen I sat back down.

At noon Lu Chen closed his book.

"There's nothing to do," he said.

"There's nothing to do."

"Say that again."

"Don't."

He got up and put the kettle on the little hot plate we kept on the shelf.

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