Roar of Dragons

[Luke – 13 years]

"-which is why you always kill the duck before blowing up the house," I finish. "Does that make sense?"

"Out of context," Xavier says. "That would sound extremely wrong, Luke."

"Huh?" I ask. "Oh! I didn't say what I was talking about again, did it?"

"No," he chuckles as he makes a left turn. "But you've talked about that game while I'm driving you around enough times that I figured it out immediately. And no, I still don't understand why you should kill the duck before blowing up the house. You went on a tangent and didn't actually explain that bit."

"I didn't?"

"Nope."

"Oh!" I say. "Because if you blow up the house and the duck is too close, the duck gets roasted by the fire and all of the feathers are burned off. Turns out, that duck is a unique mob in the game with a rare spawn except for that one guaranteed one and its feathers can be used to craft special arrows! And using those arrows makes it easier to kill a boss that's, like, six times as far into the game you are. As in, you can kill it in only a quarter of the attacks! That's pretty awesome, isn't it?"

"Sounds so," Xavier says. "We're almost there. Switching game topics, the one you're getting is being released as a digital copy, right?"

"Yeah," I answer. "I already downloaded it at home. But in-store, you can get some cool merch for it! Including if you get the collector's edition set for the game. Mom pre-ordered that for me, so we're just going to pick it up."

While I don't play video games all the time, I do play them plenty often. They're a fun way to pass the time and let me do stuff I ordinarily can't. Adventuring through unknown lands, taking down the big bad, exploring space… all sorts of fun things! Parker recommended me this new game and I can't wait to play it when I get home. He's hanging out with his friends again today or I'd have invited him over to hang out while I play it. I'm sure they're busy playing it in a sort of party format or whatever it is groups of friends do when a cool new game comes out. Usually, Parker just watches me and giggles anytime I miss something he's already found if he's played past that point already.

Which he usually has since I do a lot more stuff than he does and so don't have as much time to play games as him.

"Do you want me to come into the store with you?" Xavier asks. "Or stay out here?"

I peek out the window of the car as he parks. The lot's not that packed for the game store so it's probably not crowded. Most of the people who came in to buy the game or stuff for it probably did earlier today. It's almost dinnertime and I deliberately went shopping for other stuff before coming to pick up the game since I knew that if I had to wait in a line for too long, I'd probably start sparking in my hair. I wasn't shopping all day, I just figured I'd make the actual visit to the game store to be closer to dinnertime to make it even less likely that I'd have to wait for very long.

Then I ended up ready early and wanted to leave then, so I went to go buy other stuff.

"You can stay here," I tell Xavier as I look at him again. "It shouldn't be too bad! Back in a few!"

I unbuckle and get out of the car, then hurry over to the game store and see that there are only a few customers in here, most of whom are examining things. There's only one person in line so I step into it. The customer ahead of me is a woman with a boy about ten years old, and she seems really angry that they don't have… oh! The game I'm getting!

"I'm sorry, ma'am," the employee tells her. "But we already sold out of all of the copies of the game, including the collectors' edition. Each store was only sent so many copies and it was a highly-anticipated game. We ran out by noon."

"That's ridiculous," she says. "You can't stock a game and then run out of it! This is a store! I know you have some, you just don't want me to buy the game! Go to the back and grab a copy."

Ugh. One of these customers.

"Hey, Lucas!" Another worker comes over to the counter. "I can get you at this register, let me go get your stuff."

"Thanks, Greg!" I wave to him as I move over to the other register. "And I go by Luke now and I ain't no fluke!"

"Back in a minute," he snorts and walks to the door to the back.

"Yes, you do!" The woman exclaims. "This is a store! You can't list something without actually having it in stock!"

"Ma'am," the employee says. "We have limited space for storing product and the company that made the game-"

"I don't care what you're saying, you're just trying not to sell me a copy of the game!"

Argh. This customer just won't shut up, will she? I want to say something but Mom keeps telling me not to when this happens because I tend to make things worse. If Mom were here, she'd definitely have a way to deal with this customer, and in a way that won't cause her to attack, too! Admittedly, that was only one time, and that dude was already looking like he was going to punch the employee. Better him throw a fist at someone who can take him down in an instant than a scrawny worker who'd probably snap like a toothpick between three fingers if he got punched.

"This is the first part of your stuff," Greg returns with a box, setting it down on the counter in front of me. "One collectors' edition-ma'am!"

"You did have a copy of it!" The woman brandishes my copy of it to the employee she's talking with. "You liar!"

"Ma'am, give that back," I say. "I paid for that already."

"No, you didn't," she says. "Just because he brought it out to you, that doesn't mean you paid for it!"

"I pre-ordered it," I tell her. "Three months ago. I-"

"Shut up, kid."

"Ma'am," the employee she was arguing with says. "Luke already paid for that game. You need to give it back."

"No," she says. "You were hiding this game in the back for someone, probably a friend of yours, right? You need to sell it to actual customers instead of hiding it for your favorites. I was here first, that means you sell it to me. Not to some brat who looks like he's a little too pampered. My son doesn't get nice things often and-"

Tzz-zz-zz!

Everyone jumps at that sound, including myself. I got angry at her comment and my torso became lightning-charged for a moment. It destroyed pretty much my entire shirt. This is one of the reasons why I wear the leotard underneath.

"Are you threatening me?" She asks. "You do know that people go to jail for that, don't you, little brat-"

"Ma'am!" The employee she's with interrupts her very loudly. "You need to put that game down and leave. You are now banned from the store for harassing other customers and-"

"Harassing?" She asks. "You saw him-"

"I HAVE A CONDITION!" I yell. "My magic does that on its own when I get angry and I am not a pampered little brat! You think because I have money, I don't have problems? I have a lot of problems, thank you very much! I already paid for that game and they were holding it until I could pick it up and-"

"Luke," a voice interrupts me and I look over to find Mom standing there. "Deep breaths. You're starting to spark more."

"S-sorry," I take a shaky breath as I try to figure out what Mom is doing here.

"Am I correct in assuming the game she is holding is my son's?" Mom asks the employee who was dealing with the other customer. Phil, I think his name is? "And that this is what's started him blowing up?"

"Correct," Phil answers. "Greg was pulling Luke's stuff out of the box to show him and she took it."

"It's not paid for yet, that means it's mine."

"My son already paid for that game," Mom tells her. "It's like when you order food at a fast-food place. You place your order, you pay for your food, and you wait until it's ready to be brought out to you or for you to come get it. Luke did that with this game: he ordered the game and paid for it, then had to wait until it was ready for him to pick up. Just because you did not see him buy it, that does not mean it is still for sale.

"Now," Mom says. "Either put my son's game down or I will have the authorities here to arrest you. The collector's edition is two hundred fifty dollars, which is a felony theft in this state. Unlike you, we have a receipt to prove it and the box that's on the counter there does have my son's name on it. If we call the police and they review the cameras, will they see that you grabbed the game that came from that box, which has an order number that matches the one on my son's receipt?"

Mom's gaze when she's annoyed is very intimidating and the woman sets down the game.

"Good," Mom says. "Now. Judging by the state of Luke's shirt, he got angry and his magic acted up. I want you to apologize to my son for what it is you said that made him snap."

"No wonder he's a spoiled brat-" the woman begins to say.

"You're right," Mom pulls out her phone and makes a call, pressing it to her ear. "I do spoil him a little, but he still works hard. Luke earns money, too. Hello, Tim, how's it going?"

"Making a phone call?"

"A little agitated," Mom says. "There's a woman in one of your shops that is harassing my son and attempted to force the staff to sell them his copy of New Frontiers of Zenzialtz, including calling him a brat and then accusing me of spoiling him when I told her to give the copy back. Yes, it is. Yes, please, and thank you."

Mom hangs up and returns her phone to her pocket, then smiles at the customer.

"An example of me spoiling him," she smiles sweetly. "Is that I happen to be connected enough to know the owner of this store and that phone call they're receiving? That's him calling to say you're banned."

The woman blows up on my mom, which is kind of funny to see because Mom isn't fazed by it at all. That was probably an abuse of her connections, but the owner already doesn't like this kind of behavior and he'd definitely prefer a regular customer like me to keep coming more than he'd prefer to not punish a customer that took my stuff.

When the employee tells her that she's been banned from the store and needs to leave, she tries to argue with him. Mom offers to call the police if they need to issue a trespass notice against the customer and that shuts her up pretty fast. She grabs her son's arm and hurries out of the store.

"Sorry about that," Mom gives a more friendly smile to Phil and Greg. "I came here because I knew that with how anticipated this game has been, there might be a scene if Luke came to get it. I didn't realize that was what he was doing when he left to go shopping earlier or I would have let him know I was getting it."

"We have had way too many scenes today," Greg groans. "They sent us one hundred copies of the game and we were out by noon. Twenty copies of the collector's edition and we were out by eleven. Twenty copies of the deluxe collector's edition and we were out by eleven. We never sell out that fast, especially not on the more expensive sets. Almost every time someone who pre-ordered came in to pick it up, there was a customer like that one here. We actually did ban a couple already, including one who attacked the other parent. He left wearing a pair of shiny silver bracelets. This game was a lot more popular than anticipated, I think."

"Of course it was," I say. "You've seen the mascot plushies, right? That's part of why I bought the deluxe collector's edition kit."

Greg pulls the plushie out of the box, a wolf with silver-and-gold fur that's patterned to look like lightning is running along it. It's a monster from the game that originally wasn't intended as the mascot. It was spotted in one of the early trailers, though, and blew up online practically overnight. The game studio even said they weren't going to change the game to include more of it because of that, but they were going to add some merch for it.

Others like it because it's a cute animal, but I like it because of both that and the fact that it's a lightning beast.

"It's so awesome!" I exclaim as I take the plushie and swing it around. "I don't care that it's one of the lesser monsters you have to fight as you explore the new world, it's so cool! And then it's a sequel to a game that also hit it big, too! So of course it got super popular! Oh! Are my keychains there?"

"They're in the other box," Greg says. "Let me go get that one real quick."

The deluxe collector's set has enough merchandise to fill up two boxes. After Greg gets that one and we finish making sure everything is here, we confirm the pickup and Mom helps me carry the stuff out to her car.

"Are you feeling better now?" Mom asks.

"A little," I hug the plushie. "I bought a second one, by the way. Dad added that order on for me."

"I noticed," she chuckles. "Greg brought it out with the second box. You like it so much you wanted two?"

"No," I answer. "But Xander's only got that bear and this thing is super cute, so I thought he might like it as a friend for his bear!"

"That was pretty nice," she messes with my hair.

"Mom!" I protest as I pull away and start fixing my hair. "Don't mess with my hair!"

Especially not in public! I don't want other people seeing my hair all messed up!

"Are you still shopping?" Mom asks. "Or do you want to come home and play the game?"

"I'm done shopping," I tell her. "But I was going to ask Xavier if he could take me somewhere to eat. If you want to go eat with me, then I can tell him he can go home now."

"Why don't you do that?" Mom messes with my hair again.

"Mom!" I protest and hurry over to where Xavier is parked. "Xavier! Mom showed up because she wanted to avoid me getting angry if someone called me some really mean stuff, so we're going to go eat at a restaurant. You can head to the house and drop my stuff off now, then take the rest of the day off. I'll be going home with Mom after."

"Alright," Xavier says. "Have fun, Luke!"

"Bye!" I wave to him, then hurry back over to Mom's car.

"Did you do clothes shopping?" Mom asks when I climb in and buckle up. "I don't have a spare shirt for you."

Since my shirt got obliterated, the torso of my leotard is exposed. It's not really a shirt but it works well enough, especially since I do have on proper shorts and some sneakers. People who don't know me will probably just think I'm a gymnast out of practice or something, especially thanks to my lean but defined build.

"No," I say. "But the yellow of the leotard goes with the blue of the shorts, so it's fine! At least, for the place I want to go to eat!"

"Alright," she says. "Your hair is sparking, by the way."

I try to fix my hair while shutting off the sparks and tell Mom where I want to eat while she pulls out of the parking spot.

"The angry burst doesn't normally completely destroy your shirt," Mom says. "It's getting worse as you get stronger."

"I know," I sigh. "I'm trying really hard to keep my magic under control, but I can't. I don't know why it acts up like that when I get too hyper or angry or happy. Are you sure there's nothing wrong with me?"

"Yes," Mom says. "You're a perfectly healthy thirteen-year-old boy, Luke. You just don't fully understand your magic yet. That's why it responds to your emotions. Don't be so down about losing control of your temper. You got angry but you didn't attack or anything, your magic simply reacted. It's okay to get angry and express it."

"But when I get really mad," I say. "My magic bursts like that. That's not good. It scares people. What if it hurts someone?"

I have to avoid getting mad so that it doesn't happen. The bursts really could hurt someone if they touched. Most stuff doesn't make me really mad, but I hate when people think I'm spoiled just because I look like I have money. Or because I do have money. I try not to get mad over it, but… I can't help it. They have no idea how hard I work and how much effort I put into my studies and just dismiss the very idea of me working hard just because I'm a kid with money!

"Don't worry about that," Mom tells me. "You'll figure things out. If you really want, we can go to the doctor again and see if we can get you an alert band?"

A bracelet that warns people that my magic sometimes acts up. When scanned, it'll state all known triggers and what happens, which can be used if someone tried to accuse me of intentionally doing something. I'm pretty good about not getting angry though and I don't want to be marked like that. Other kids would dislike me even more.

Those are also normally for people whose magic acts up often. Much more often than once every several months.

"No," I say. "It doesn't happen often. I just… I really lost control of my temper. I'm sorry."

"It's okay," Mom tells me. "And don't try to stress over not fully understanding your magic. Unless you're a Lumaria King, it's normal to not until you're at least twenty or so. Even a genius probably wouldn't until he was sixteen or seventeen."

Even though magic is simply magic, everyone has little quirks to their flow of mana that affects how they use their magic. Bloodlines are one such quirk, making certain types of magic easier than others. Some other quirks affect how one's mana reacts to their emotional states, how it is that they can actually shape their magic, and more. There are thousands of different spellcasting styles as a result of this.

Just because two people can cast a fireball that acts identical to the other's, that doesn't mean they were cast the same way. The individual quirks of their mana flow means they probably cast them in different styles. That's one of the reasons why finding a suitable teacher can be hard.

Even when looking spells up online, the most common ones that can be found are ones that are easier to cast regardless of quirks. Some types of magics are less-affected by a person's quirks than others, which makes them easier to cast. However, it's always better to find a teacher who really knows what they're doing as a person's quirks might make those spells more difficult to cast.

Xander is an example of someone who probably has a quirk to his magic that makes internal spells easy. He's running a self-enhancement spell at all times without realizing it and can subconsciously cast some sort of spell in his throat without realizing it. Subconsciously casting a spell is more likely with spells someone has a quirk which makes that spell type easier for them.

For me, one of my quirks links my electricity to strong emotions. The more I understand about my quirks – and therefore, my magic – the easier it will be for me to find ways to regulate the link. Prevent my hair from sparking when I get hyper or my body from charging up with lightning magic when I get really angry.

However, understanding one's magic isn't something which comes quickly or intuitively. One has to do a lot of inner-searching of their magic, meditation, and use their magic to figure out all of its quirks. I do try to figure out my magic's quirks so I can control it better… but I'm only a genius at lightning magic.

"I know," I sigh. "I just wish I didn't get so angry."

"Sweetie," Mom reaches over and brushes my cheek. "It's okay to get angry. You didn't attack or anything, you just sparked a bit. You barely even blew up verbally based on what I heard. And it's normal to have emotions. Especially at your age. Stop beating yourself up. On our way back home, I'm going to buy you a gallon of ice cream and whatever toppings you want and give you no restrictions on it."

"Really?" I ask. "I can eat a whole gallon of ice cream when I get home?"

"Yes," Mom smiles. "And now we're here, so let's go get dinner."

Mom and I get out of the car and head into the restaurant. It's really a cheap diner but I love the burgers they make here. As we look for a table, I spot Parker sitting across from two other guys. Friends from his old school.

"Hi!" I wave to them as we pass.

"Hey," Parker holds up a fist for a bump and I oblige. "What're you doing here?"

"Just picked up my deluxe collector's edition kit," I tell him. "And now we're getting food! Hi, Parker's friends! Have you guys played New Frontiers of Zenzialtz yet? I have it downloaded but haven't played it yet! Wanted to wait until I was done with doing stuff for the day first!"

"Yeah, we-" Parker starts to respond.

"We were trying to have a conversation here," one of his friends tells me. "And we don't want you babbling your way through it and keep us from talking. Thanks, but enjoy your dinner."

Parker looks uncomfortable now and looks between me and his friends.

"S-sorry," Parker says while staring down at his food.

"It's okay…"

I turn and walk away and Mom follows me to the empty table I pick out, as far away from Parker's group as possible. All I tried doing was being friendly and they were rude to me. Parker didn't even say anything. He wouldn't even meet my gaze. Does he… really not like me? Am I just a pity case to him? Is he really only my friend because I don't have anyone else?

Why am I such an awful person? My magic makes me burst when I get angry and spark when I'm happy, no one wants to be my friend, and no matter how hard I try to work on myself, it just doesn't work!

[Sig – 13 years]

Camping laundry can wait until tomorrow because I am too tired to do chores right now. Fortunately, Mr. Thompson bought Connor and me food on our way home. No sleepover for me tonight so I'm here alone, freshly-showered and in a pair of clean shorts because damn did I smell after getting back from camping.

There's only one thing for me to do now… and that's play video games. I plop into my computer chair, turn on the computer, load up the game, and log in. Jack's the only one online at the moment so I ping him for a party chat. If he's free to do stuff, we might run a dungeon together.

"Hey!" I say when he accepts the invite. "What's up?"

"Grinding out bears," he answers. "Need bearskins for a quest I'm doing at the moment. How'd the camping trip go?"

"Pretty cool!" I answer. "We met another classmate there and hung out with her for a lot of it while her parents hung out with our dad. They had a lake and we did a lot of swimming, but we also went hiking in woods."

"See anything interesting?" He asks as I call up my quests list.

"We were going for a hike yesterday," I tell him as I scan the quests. "And came across a rabbit that had water magic. It was pretty neat and kept using it in front of us. Mr. Thompson said that the rabbit uses the water magic show to convince people to keep it alive, but also as a sort of mating thing with other rabbits."

We talk about my camping trip for a bit as I handle some of my incomplete quests, then Jack and I run a dungeon together with his bear familiar acting as a tank, me using my magic to be the dealer, and him using his magic to keep us alive. It's not an easy fight for us since it's supposed to be run by five people but we manage to clear the dungeon without any deaths.

"Shellbeary is tougher now," I say. "Was that what you needed the skins for?"

"Yeah," Jack answers. "Was upgrading his defenses so he could be more of a tank now instead of a dealer. He's better at that. Your staff is almost obsolete for your level, right?"

"Yup," I answer. "Need to get a new one soon. One of the things I can use as a base for the new staff is found from a dungeon boss, so I want to wait on that until we're all playing together. It's from that abyssal dungeon we were talking about last week."

"Ain't no way am I going in there for a serious run without a proper party," he laughs. "We could definitely try to take it on with just the two of us, though, just to see how far we get."

"Let's do it!"

Jack and I attempt the abyssal dungeon just for kicks and we have a blast doing it even if we don't even reach the first boss. We don't play the game for serious advancement, we play it for fun. If we were more serious players we'd be even stronger than we currently are with the same playtime.

"Hold on a sec," I say after we respawn in town. "I got a text while we were in there. I might be getting a call in a sec so gonna mute."

"'Kay," Jack responds.

[Xander]: Can I col u?

[Sig]: Sure!

The call comes in almost immediately after I send the sure, so he must have still been on his phone.

"Hey, Xander!" I respond. "Didn't think you'd be calling me at all. Did you decide about Tuesday?"

"Not yet," Xander answers. "Um… I'm really stupid and-"

"What?" I ask. "What are you talking about? You seem pretty smart to me."

"I'm not!" Xander cries a little. "I do really badly in school and struggle to retrain information but I'm taking summer lessons to help me get the stuff I need so I can try and be ready for eighth grade. Private tutors and stuff. It started this last week. A neighbor kid was coming over so I wouldn't be alone with the teachers. And I hate being stupid and not smart and failing school so I really want these lessons. B-but one of the kids who was coming over suddenly decided to fly out to some islands for a vacation and the other kid was just coming 'cause he was. 'Cause the other one was. S-so now it'd be just me and the teacher and the guard a-and I don't want that but I want the lessons so I asked M-Mr. Trey if I could ask you 'cause you've always seemed really nice and friendly and he said y-yeah if that was okay."

Xander stops there but I can still hear him sniffling. I didn't mean to upset him, I didn't know he does badly in school. Since he's getting lessons now, I'm guessing his foster dad is arranging those to help him. It sounds like he really wants them, too, but is scared to be alone with adults for it, which I understand.

"My parents are on vacation right now," I tell him. "They went to the Grand Canyon and so I can't get them to take me over. But I could probably ask Mr. Thompson if he'll take me over."

"T-that's Donner's dad, right?"

I almost giggle at his mistake. He's got reindeer stuck in his brain. Fortunately, I manage to not. Xander would probably get really upset if I laughed with how he sounds right now.

"Yeah," I answer. "Mr. Thompson's a pretty cool dude and gives me rides places all the time."

"U-um… please hold on…" Xander says. His voice becomes quieter and a little bit muted, as if he's away from the mic. "Maybe I can take a week off? I failed the review tests on Friday anyway so I could do practice this week, right? But I don't want them to know I'm stupid because then they won't want me to bowl. I don't think S.G. would tell."

He seems to be having a conversation with someone else, though I can't hear the other person. This goes on for a minute and I realize that he probably thinks he put me on hold but actually deafened it. Or he thinks the phone is far enough away that it can't pic up the call.

"Okay, Trenton," Xander says. "I should ask him not to. He might get mad, though," there's a shuffling sound for a moment. "S-S.G.? Are you still there?"

"I am," I say. "What's up?"

"Um… can you not tell them that I'm stupid?" He asks. "You guys being that close in bowling keeps others from that lane and I don't want them wanting to not be around me because of that because I'm stupid I know that's wrong but the lanes are private and thoughts are muddled and I-I didn't want to tell you, either, but I want the lessons and I don't want to be alone with the teachers and-"

Xander babbles for a moment and most of it is incoherent but I think I know why. He even said it, though probably without realizing: his thoughts are muddled right now. He's panicking, isn't he?

"What kind of classes are they?" I interrupt after a minute.

"Um…" Xander's brain probably needs a slight reboot after getting confused on me. "Um. Mondays are math followed by swimming. I learned order of operations last week. Oh. Um. If you help with the swimming, you'll need swim trunks or something. O-or you can sit by the pool. But I d-definitely d-don't w-want t-to b-be al-lone w-with t-the t-teacher t-there."

"I've got swim trunks," I tell him. "If you want, I can just say you're getting swimming lessons and don't want to be alone with the adults for that, but are a bit shy and don't want too many people around and so asked me if I'd come and help. That's all true, right? You cool with me saying that?"

Xander mumbles what sounds like, "Then they'd know I can't swim, but I guess that's okay."

"S-sure," Xander says.

"Alright!" I say. "Let me text Mr. Thompson and ask if he'll take me over. What time does it start?"

"The class for math starts at eight," Xander tells me. "And then the swimming lesson ends at ten-to-eleven. Roughly. Then there's lunch after. We get a break between the two classes, but also a short one during the first class. It's weird."

I'm not sure I want to ask what's weird, mostly because Xander still sounds upset. He must be trying to be brave right now by admitting to me that he needs help with education and doesn't do well at school.

Based on what I've heard him say during this call, Xander really prefers it if we're the ones bowling close because it keeps others from being assigned a close lane. He's also worried that us finding out he's not smart and severely needs academic help would make us want to be far, far away from him instead of just taking back the offer to bowl with him on Tuesday.

"Alright," I send a text to Mr. Thompson. "I've sent him a text. Did you have a good weekend?"

"Yeah," Xander answers.

That's all?

"I saw the pictures you were sending of you baking and helping with cooking," I say. "Do you like doing that kind of stuff?"

"I think," Xander answers. "I get worried I'm gonna drop stuff but Ms. Katie is nice and cleans it up when I do and then just tells me to measure it out again."

"Oh!" I say. "So she's teaching you how to bake? Is that the woman I saw in some of the pictures?"

"Yeah," Xander answers. "She's Mr. Trey's cook. Um. Please hold on," his voice gets quieter. "Hi, Mr. Trey. He's asking Mr. Thompson if he can take him over right now, since his parents are on vacation," I can hear another voice this time, but I can't understand what they're saying as they're too far away and aren't talking too loud. It sounds kind of deep. "I-isn't breakfast too early, though? It's at seven and he has to come further than Luke does. Oh. Um. Please hold on. S.G.? Are you still there?"

His voice is louder again, indicating that he's probably put the phone back to his ear.

"Yeah," I answer.

"Mr. Trey said I can invite you over for breakfast as well if you want," he says. "We normally eat at seven but he said we can bump it back a little bit later if that works better. But the classes start at eight. It's like real school. But, um… if real school had longer class periods and breaks and let you eat during class. I guess since you can eat breakfast at school, too."

"Let me ask," I tell him. "Mr. Thompson just responded… and sent! Is Mr. Trey Mr. Caldwell?"

"Yeah."

"Cool," I say. "He wants to know where you live."

"O-oh," Xander says. "Um… Mr. Trey?" His voice is quieter again. "What's your address? Okay. S.G.?" His voice is louder again. "Mr. Trey lives at 3 Bluewing Falls Avenue, in Dragon Falls. Oh. Bluewing Avenue, not Bluewing Falls Avenue. Stupid brain, mixing things up."

I'll pretend I didn't hear him muttering the insult toward himself. It really seems like he doesn't have much self-esteem, though. Mr. Thompson told us last week that Tiffany told him that Xander's doing well in the new home and she thinks it's going to help him out a lot. I hope so, too.

"Okay," I say. "Letting Mr. Thompson know and… sent! Is. Mr. Caldwell still there?"

"Y-yeah."

"Okay," I say. "So have you decided about Tuesday yet?"

"N-no," Xander answers. "B-but I'll understand if you change your mind after helping me with classes. I know I'm not that smart."

"If being smart was a requirement to be my friend," I say. "Then that'd be a very stupid thing to do! You seem like a cool person, Xander, so unless you do something to upset us, we'll still invite you."

"S-sure."

That's probably a sarcastic one but I can't tell. The slight whimper I hear probably means it was and Xander's scared. He's a bit of an anxious guy.

"Mr. Thompson said sure!" I say. "It might not be right at seven since it's so early but he doesn't mind picking me up. Conner will still be asleep at that time. He did say that he won't be able to take me home, though, since he has to be at work."

"Um…" Xander's voice goes quieter. "S.G. said that Mr. Thompson can take him here but will be at work when we're done. Can Quinn take him home after?"

"Sure," Mr. Caldwell responds, close enough to Xander now for me to hear him.

"Okay," Xander says, then his voice is louder again. "S.G.? Mr. Trey said that my driver can take you home after."

"Alright!" I say. "I'll see you tomorrow then yeah?"

"B-bye," Xander says and the call ends.

As I pull my headset on and unmute the mic, I realize something Xander said. His driver? Does that mean he got adopted by a wealthy person? That's so cool!

"Sorry about that," I tell Jack. "Got asked to help with something tomorrow! Since it doesn't look like the others are getting on, want to go farm some berries and make a bunch of splash potions so we can prank them?"