At the high pitched squeaky voice, Victoria turned and regarded the rest of the room and the startled boys, except for the still slumbering Robert. “I’m sorry I’ve been here for a while. But you all seemed so busy.” She said smiling as she offered her hand to one fo the boys. She noted the blush rising on his cheeks and ears. She almost thought she could hear him stammering out his name but his lips never seemed to move.

Michael had looked up briefly, shook his head with a sigh and gone back to work. “Guys, this is a girl you should get used to them they also play games.” Mr. Lagrand said with an aggrieved tone. “I’m sorry…”

“Victoria.”

“Victoria. Most of my boys.” He cleared his throat. “To be honest most boys, in general, aren’t used to girls taking an interest in gaming. They are going to be nervous and awkward.’ He smiled at her. “This is going to be so much fun.” He said with relish as she caught a twinkle of mischief in his eye. “Do you have any idea of what kind of a character concept you want to work with?” He asked her as he led her over to a table to take a seat.

“I don’t know.” She replied as she sat down. “I mean Luke invited me to play but I have no real idea about any of this.” She said waving at the books.

“That's fair.” The teacher said in thought. “Well, we call it a role-playing game but we roll dice to build our characters and move the action forward.” He said picking up a set of dice and displaying them for her. “The statistics you use to build your character.”

“Luke was explaining that.” She replied.

“Good. Now your character is like a character in an improvisational play. You try and determine what his actions would be based on your concept. A rogue is often a thief, but not always. They are sneaky and can disarm traps.” She nodded and he continued. “Warriors are strong and they fight on the front lines.” Again she nodded as he continued explaining the different classes and the base stats required to play them.

“Luke said there were special classes too?” She asked.

“Oh yes but they are very hard to achieve and most have prerequisites.” He said.

“So there are and there aren’t.” She stated as she looked around the room. She caught one or another of the boys looking at her and when she would meet their eyes they would look down or whisper to each other. “Wow they really aren’t used to girls are they.” She said in a whisper to the teacher.

“Nooo, he whispered back. This will be good for them.” He reached into a box beside him and pulled out a bag of dice. “So let's get started.”

One other question.” Victoria said biting her lip. “Do all other role-playing games use the same stats?”

“Oh, no,” he said shaking his head. “So use things like comeliness, might, brains one that's a game based on cartoons uses bonk.” He said a chuckle in his voice.

“Bonk? What does that do?” The girl asked puzzled.

“Oh, its like hit points in dungeons and dragons.. You use it up when you get hurt.” He said as he also took out a preprinted slip of paper. “We will just use this for your character sheet. Roll four six-sided dice.” She took up the dice shook them and rolled. “Wow, four sixes on your first roll. “ Victoria continued to roll.

“Wow, another four sixes so that's what two eighteens?” She asked. Then looked up to see the teachers wide eyes.

“Don’t mind me. He said with a wan smile keep rolling.” Again she shook the dive he had given her with each subsequent roll his smile grew less and less. One of the boys noticed and came to look over her shoulder on the third roll. He reached back and smacked one of the other boys who joined them. On her fourth roll, all the boys were behind her.Without a sound they watched as she completed the six rolls. Their eyes were nearly as wide as their teachers.

“That’s uh impressive Victoria>,” He said as he took off his hat then scratched behind his ear. “Well uh with those scores you can play anything really.” He said reaching out and taking up the dice. Then turning and picking out a book from the box beside him. “Why don’t you go read over the different character classes. The cover showed what appeared to be a red seated demon figure with what she took to be adventurers taking out its jeweled eyes. After she left he picked up the dice and examined them closely then began rolling them on the table. Six rolls and not a single totaled up to eighteen. “Some people have all the luck.” he sighed.

X X X

“So did you have fun?” Luke asked her as they were leaving the school that afternoon.

“I don’t know if I had fun exactly but I learned a few things.” She said conspiratorially. “First Mr. Lagrand has a lousy poker face.” Luke nodded at her words.

“And second?” he asked.

“The second is all those guys really need girlfriends.” She chuckled.

Her friend looked aggrieved then Brightened. “Hey, I’m working on one. I’ve got a date with Caroline.” He smirked.

“And why didn’t you tell them that.” She asked.

“You saw them if I told anyone I had a date their hearts might stop.” He laughed. Thinking about it she nodded. “So…?”

“So what?”

“So when are you going to do it?” He asked.

She sighed. The looked over to him. “Tonight, before bed and after the hospital.” Luke saw his friend clench her jaw then sigh. “This is so weird. I almost hope I’m insane.”She said as she acknowledged the notification and it flared to life before her... Luke didn’t see the blue box before her but he thought he saw a glimmer of blue reflected in her eyeball out of the corner of his eye.

“Are you looking at the notification?” He asked.

“Yeah, how did you know?”

“Not sure I thought I caught just the barest of glimmers.” He said with a shrug. “Did you learn anything else?” the blond boy asked.

“Yeah, that I need to read the documentation before I make any life-altering decisions.”

“Its not like you are signing up for the crayon eaters.” He snorted.

“Speaking of crayon eaters. How's your brother doing in basic?”

Luke kicked a rock as they left the drive of the school on the way to the bus stop. “From the letter, we got he loves it.” He said with a sigh and a shrug. “I wish I could tell him I got a date. I miss the asshole you know?”

“I wouldn’t know that I’m the big sister.” She snorted.

“Yeah well, oh shit there's my bus gotta go.” He said as he sprinted off toward the bus fifty feet away that was just pulling to a stop.