Kalina opened her eyes, her teeth clamped firmly against her bottom lip. “Can I try to tumble out of its attack radius?”
Alice raised an eyebrow. “You have ranks in Tumble?”
Kalina smiled worriedly. “I think I have one…”
“Well, you can try,” Alice shrugged.
“You do realize there’s a minus five or something for your armor, don’t you?” Sam The Boy pointed out.
Kalina glowered at him, a strand of her blonde hair choosing that moment to fall free from her ponytail and hang loosely at the side of her face. “Are you trying to get us all killed?”
“Isn’t he always?” Sam The Girl asked, also turning her attention to her male counterpart. “That -is- what he’s best at.”
“One time,” he rolled his eyes. “And it’s not like I made you guys…”
“I’d like to get some homework done tonight,” Alice interrupted, “so would you all stop distracting Kalina so she can get to failing this skill check?”
“Bite me,” Kalina glared at Alice.
“I’m sure the dragon would love to do that.”
Kalina picked up her die gently, blowing on it before giving it a good shake and then tossing it onto the table. It bounced a few times before finally coming to a rest, and, by a severe stroke of luck, on its highest number. She couldn’t quite keep herself from shouting a triumphant, “Ha!” at a now sullen Alice.
“Fine,” Alice sulked. “You summersault out of the dragon’s reach. But now it’s his turn.” She perked up at that, glancing at the battle map with an evil smirk.
“Don’t forget to roll the damage from my poison!” Sam The Boy reminded her.
“Oh, yeah…” Alice’s expression turned dour once again at the result. “…And the dragon suddenly gives out one, final roar, then falls over dead.”
“Who’s useless now?!” Sam The Boy asked, though nobody bothered to answer.
“Well, that was… anticlimactic,” Alice sighed. “But that’s probably a good place to stop for today.”
“But… But… Treasure!” Kalina sputtered.
“What makes you think he had treasure?” Alice asked mysteriously.
“Because you told us he was guarding a pile of it?”
“I guess you’ll just have to wait until next time to find out what it was,” Alice said.
“She hasn’t figured out what it is yet,” Sam The Girl sagely told the others.
“I totally have,” Alice protested. “I just have homework, and… And get out of my house!”
Sam The Boy lived in the opposite direction of everyone else, so he bid everyone farewell right away and rode his bicycle off into the sunset, but Sam The Girl rode a little ways with Kalina.
“Do you remember what we’re supposed to do for Chemistry tomorrow?” Kalina asked her.
“I think it’s pages 80 through 85,” Sam answered. “Or through 90, actually.”
“Eh, it’s probably not that important,” Kalina shrugged, thinking of all the other stuff she needed to get finished. She might have had time for five pages, but not ten.
“It’s really not that hard,” Sam told her, though Kalina was pretty sure she was lying, as usual. “Just get your sister to explain it to you.”
“She had cheerleading try-outs today,” Kalina sighed. “If I ask her about Chemistry, I’m gonna have to sit through at least an hour of her talking about that first.”
“She’s so lucky to have such a caring sister.”
“Darn skippy,” Kalina nodded, turning her bike into her driveway and waved goodbye as Sam continued on. “See you tomorrow!”