Part 2 - Outside the Dungeon
Chapter 10
“I just think if you go through summer school,” Daniel continued as I tried to ignore him, “we could convince the teachers to graduate you and it would only take a few weeks! Mrs. Paggi already said she’d vouch for you.”
“That could work,” my mom piped in, nudging me with an elbow, “Mrs. Paggi was always nice to you, even if you kept failing her science class.”
I took a bite of pizza to keep my mouth busy so I wouldn’t tell them what I really thought. Daniel had picked the pizza up on the way over. It was from a new place a street up from me and it was… fine? The cheese was a little gritty, the sauce was sweet, and the bread was tough to chew, but you can’t really fuck up pizza.
“Well?” My mom asked, she was still wearing her cleaner’s uniform, which somehow looked like it was ironed a minute ago, except it had been several days ago and had been worn for multiple shifts. I wonder how she kept it so clean. Would I have to learn?
I took another bite so I didn’t have to say anything. I know, it was childish, but I really didn’t want to go back to school. It was SO boring. I had left as soon as I could and I don’t know why they thought I’d go back just to get a useless diploma. I wasn’t going to college or university, couldn’t afford it and had no interest in it either way. I didn’t need to do more tests or learn about useless things like algebra or grammar.
Both of them, Daniel and my mom, didn’t say anything. I stared back, chewing slower. I studied both of them, suspiciously. I was pretty sure my mom had set this up, but I wouldn’t put it past Daniel to have this idea originally. Summer school seemed like a Daniel idea invented by some ancient Daniel who couldn’t get enough school. Pry was shoved into lockers a lot.
I focused on Daniel with light brown hair carefully parted down the side, glasses perched on his nose, and light skin. If I hadn’t known him all his life, I’d guess he was sickly, or at least, he’d never seen the sun before, but no. He was just very pale, reflective almost. He was probably to blame, he looked guilty.
I looked over to my mom, almost a spitting image of me, though she was about a foot shorter and had thick black hair that she kept long. Right now it was pulled up in a loose bun and it bobbed slightly when she talked. She was encouraging Daniel’s behavior.
I finished my piece of food, wondering if I should take another bite. I resigned myself to my fate and opened my mouth to talk—PING.
PING.
It was our front door. Someone had rung the bell and the mental notification arrived for my mom and me at the same time. I mentally waved the notification away, sending it grayed out into a small bell in my HUD and I jumped to my feet.
“I’ll get it!” I announced before my mom could respond. Daniel looked briefly confused before he realized I meant that there was someone at the door.
I had no idea who could be at the door, no one rang our doorbell but Daniel, even after a dozen years. I didn’t care whoever it was, they were saving me from going back to school. I’d even invite the police if it meant they’d end this conversation sooner.
Quickly crossing the small kitchen and den, past the staircase, and arriving at the door, I threw it open.
“Can I—uh,” I said, my words failing me as I saw two people standing in the doorway. It had been over a week since I last saw them and my brain was struggling to recognize them outside of an exercise field, “H-Huck? Elise? What are you doing here?”
Those two were standing outside my door. Elise looked a bit sheepish, as if she had been talked into this, while Huck had no such guilt on his face.
“You weren’t responding to our messages for over a week,” Huck responded as if that answered everything, “May we come in?”
“Your messages?” I asked, trying to—oh, all of their messages had been piling up in my feed for a while. I glanced at my notification box and saw that there were almost a hundred unread messages in there. Most were from Huck, but Elise had several. There was even a single notification from Colin. My mom also had a few in there as well from a few days ago that I had just never got around to looking at.
Huck, taking my question as affirmation walked into my home, moving my arm aside so that he and Elise could walk in. He then closed the door for me and turned to look at my house.
“Nice place,” Huck said pleasantly with a smile. His voice was sincere, but I didn’t know how he could be when I turned to look at the staircase, hall, and small room. The paint was old and faded, the wooden stairs, actual wood, were worn and stained. The ceiling had a few cracks and there was even a light out. It wasn’t messy, that was only my room, but it wasn’t as clean or pristine as my mom had to make hotel rooms.
While I tried to figure out what to say next, Elise took me in an embrace and hugged me tight. My mind reeled again. I was having a lot of trouble figuring out what was going on. She smelled nice though, like cotton—it almost distracted me from the burning pain in my arm and the dull ache in my chest. Damn kobolds and doubly damn Bria. My arm was largely healed, but it was still tender.
“I knew you’d be excited to see us!” Elise said, squeezing me a bit tighter before letting me go as I winced slightly. I was excited to see Elise, maybe not so for Huck.
“Is Colin not with you?” I asked, I didn’t want to see him, but I wasn’t sure what else to say.
Elise’s face turned stormy.
“He,” she began, sounding dignified and haughty, “thought we could get someone better for our team.”
“Our team? What team?”
“Aurea,” my mom said, arriving into the small entry way and looking over Huck and Elise with wide eyes, “Who are your friends?” I peeked behind her and saw Daniel craning his neck over my mom’s head.