Tara got off her bike right before she would have entered the cul-de-sac and looked around furtively, mostly to make sure Mrs McGillicuddy wasn’t peering from her window. When she was sure the older woman wasn’t watching, she picked up the sharpest rock she could find. One more look to make sure she was alone led to her stabbing the rock through the tire. She heard the air escape and a moment later she could start the struggle of getting the bicycle into the garage.

She dropped her bike to the garage and entered the scullery, dropping her shoes as she went in.

There were no sounds of dinner coming from the kitchen, nor the sound of anyone doing the dishes, which meant that she must’ve been home a lot later than she thought. She sighed, mentally preparing for the lecture about being on time she was set to receive.

When she entered the kitchen, she heard the television’s noise blasting from the living room. Oddly, it appeared to be MTV.

She walked through the hallway, then leaned into the living room, finding only Sawyer who was stretched out on the couch, eating takeout noodles and watching music videos.

“Where’s mom and dad?” Tara wanted to know.

“You were late, so they went looking for you,” Sawyer said with practiced deadpan, “Thought you might’ve been kidnapped.”

Tara paled, her eyes widening.

Sawyer leaned to see he got the response he wanted, then smirked, “Kidding, sis. They went out to dinner. There’s takeout in the fridge.”

“Oh,” Tara mumbled, “Great.”

“Chinese!” Sawyer called after Tara, “Chop Suey from the good place!”

Tara wasn't really hungry but she forced her legs to the kitchen anyway. IF she didn’t eat anything, her mother would assume she was sick, or worse, have questions that Tara did not want to answer. She simply grabbed the food from the fridge, placed it in the microwave and listlessly watched the rotating meal, which was when it struck her.

She’d punctured her tire for nothing.

“Shit,” she mumbled to herself.

The microwave beeped a minute later. Just when she was about to get her food out, the doorbell rang. She hoped it’d be Jones with one of his ridiculous petitions that would surely put her mind elsewhere.

Opening the door, she only found a brightly smiling Chrissy in front of her. The girl was carrying a handful of books and dangled a small black pouch from her finger.

Tara slammed the door in her face, breathed in deep, then opened it again, letting out a nervous laugh.

“H..hi.”

“Hi! I brought the books over and….”

“My parents aren’t home,” Tara said hastily, “Can’t have anyone over.”

“It’s fine,” Sawyer, on his way back from the bathroom, called over her shoulder, “I’m here ain’t I?”

“So you are,” Tara said, mostly to herself, adding a silent, “Great.”

Chrissy just stared expectantly.

“Come in then,” Tara said forcing a smile and stepping aside to let her through.

“Where do you wanna do it? Your bedroom?”

Tara needed a moment to get over her original shock, register and process the words, and bite back the sigh of relief when she realized what Chrissy meant.

“Kitchen!” she said hurriedly, “I’m still eating.”

She did not want Chrissy in her bedroom, or honestly in the same house as the notebook, but she had committed now.

“Want a drink…” Tara tried as she followed.

Tara stared at the piece of paper in front of her. She had not understood much and let Chrissy take the lead, but apparently they had created a character. It looked suspiciously like math on paper to Tara. The process had mostly involved looking up how to do it too, which again, seemed a bit too much like math to Tara’s liking.

“Now what?” Tara wanted to know, reading over the paper that was apparently called a character sheet. A’rat had seventeen str, which meant strength. Chrissy had assured her that was good, but also that she’d fudged the numbers a little bit, just to give an edge to a new player like Tara.

“Now we need two or three more players. We could do it with just the two of us…”

Tara took a sip of her drink, pointedly looking at the ceiling as Chrissy spoke.

“But it’s better with more.”

“Okay, so where do we find those?”

Chrissy shrugged, “One walked into the store, but that means we can only play on Wednesdays in the store…”

“That’s fine,” Tara said, not sure how much she wanted to be around Chrissy.

“And otherwise we could start a school club. Michelle’s going to be a buffalo too.”

“Go Buffaloes,” Tara said tonelessly.

“And I put a sign up in the store. Maybe somebody will find us that way.”

“Right…”

“Anyway, that’s us done,” Chrissy said, “Faster than expected.”

Tara glanced at the kitchen clock. It was pushing eight thirty.

“I think I’m going to bed then,” she said, making a theatrical display of yawning.

“Oh,” Chrissy said, her face falling, “I thought we could, y’know. Do….stuff.”

“Maybe tomorrow,” Tara replied, yawning again, “I got up really early y’know.”

Chrissy nodded, “Got ya! I’ll go plan our game then! Don’t worry, I’ll let myself out.”

Tara stood up and sighed in relief when Chrissy was gone. Even though it had been a lame excuse, she decided that she might as well tell the truth. It had been a long day.

Leaving her character sheet on the table, she headed upstairs.