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A cloud fog forms at Ellie’s mouth as she mutters, “Come on, Joel. Where the fuck are you?”
Ellie’s used to an early autumn chill, she grew up in Boston for fuck’s sake, but this is ridiculous. Joel’s late and she doesn’t want to wait out here anymore, but the bus is long gone and there’s no sign of Tess or Tommy either.
The main entrance creaks behind her. “There you are.”
Her head whips around to find Andrew hanging out the door, holding it open for her.
School day’s over, Ellie reverts to first name basis, “Hey, can I borrow your phone, Andrew? Joel’s fucking late.”
“Sorry, Ellie. I tried to catch you after class, but you ran out the door so fast I didn’t get the chance to tell you – Joel’s tied up at work. He asked Sarah to ask me to bring you home.”
“Oh,” Ellie grimaces.
She doesn’t dislike Andrew as Sarah’s boyfriend, but knowing a teacher outside of school is weird. She’s already the new kid; she doesn’t need getting rides home from her history teacher to make her even more of an oddity.
“I’ve got to supervise a club meeting, so why don’t you come back inside and join us?”
Even new, Ellie knows Andrew’s club’s reputation; Ellie’s not sure she’s ready to be labeled as a ‘dork’ for the rest of high school.
“Guess I don’t really have a choice. Do I?”
“You don’t have to play, if you don’t want to, but I highly doubt you wanna wait around out here for a couple hours.”
Andrew’s classroom is way different after hours; desks pushed together in a big circle rather than neat rows, teenagers excitedly chatting away rather than nodding off. Ellie recognizes couple of them from class; one of them even waves at her as she parks herself in the back corner, trying to make herself as inconspicuous as possible.
She fishes Savage Starlight out of her backpack as Andrew calls the club to order. The members are rapt with attention as he speaks, “When we last left off…”
Ellie’s doing a pretty well tuning the club meeting out until the constant clatter of dice on desks begins. Peeking over the comic, she spies worksheets and textbooks in front of everyone as if they were a study group, but they may as well be speaking in some sort of code.
Try as she might to get back to her reading, she’s intrigued. She thinks she may have even figured out some of the rules by the time Andrew calls for the end of the meeting.
Ellie can’t pack up and climb into Andrew’s car quick enough. Of course, he seems to be taking his sweet time, which ticks Ellie off again.
Except rather than let the radio fill her irritated silence, Andrew tries to strike up a conversation.
“How was the view from the cheap seats?”
“Huh?”
“I saw you watching the game from behind your comic book.”
“Only because you guys made yourselves fucking impossible to ignore. It still seems pretty lame though.”
“Said every boring person ever. Look, my invitation still stands – if you ever change your mind, you’re welcome to play D&D with us.”
Ellie frowns. She’s so sick of every adult she knows trying to get her to break out of her shell or step out of her comfort zone or whatever. She had plenty of that last year while she and Joel were on the run.
“Thanks, but I think I’ll pass.”
“Suit yourself,” Andrew shrugs.
----------
Joel gets stuck at work again the next Thursday, only this time Andrew catches Ellie after class to tell her.
She rolls her eyes, “This would be so much fucking easier if he would just let me have a phone.”
“I’m not gonna pretend I understand Joel’s decision, but I’m sure he has his reasons. Just a reminder I’ve got another club meeting after school today.”
Ellie groans, “So I’m stuck here again.”
“You could join us.”
“I already told you, I’m not interested.”
“Then how about we make a deal? Sit in on one session with us and if you don’t like it, I won’t bug you about it anymore. If you do enjoy yourself, well, there’s a seat at the table for you.”
“Fiiine,” she sighs. “But just one session.”
“That’s all I’m asking for,” Andrew smirks.
Ellie’s the last to return to Andrew’s classroom for the meeting. She stands awkwardly at the edge of the circle of desks, already feeling like she’s in way over her head.
Spotting her hovering, Andrew calls over to her and one of the boys, “Hey, Will. Would you come over here and help Ellie whip up a character.”
A floppy-haired boy Ellie vaguely knows from a few of her classes joins them with a blank sheet and some dice.
“Any idea what sort of race and class you wanna be?” he asks right off the bat.
“I have no idea what the shit that means,” Ellie replies, more skeptical than before.
She shoots Andrew with a cursory glance, but he just grins, “Have fun with it.”
Undeterred by her lack of understanding, Will explains, “It’s a fantasy game. You can be whatever sort of creature and fighter you want to be.”
“So what are you?”
“Dragonborn rogue,” he announces proudly.
“Okay. I’ll do that.”
Will makes a face, “That wouldn’t be good for party balance.”
He still sounds like he’s speaking some sort of nonsensical code to Ellie. Taking out one of the giant textbook-like books, Will flips through the pages.
He mutters to himself about what might and might not work, stopping on a page with a page of a heavily bearded and armored man. “How about you try a cleric? Our party could desperately use one.”
“Okay… so what does that mean?”
“It means your fighting style is to channel the divine power of the gods to heal people.”
Ellie blinks. He’s got to be fucking kidding. “I don’t know. I’m more of a fighter myself.”
“But that’s the great thing about Dungeons & Dragons, you get to be something you’re not. I’m not at all like my character, but my sneak attacks do the most damage of anyone in the party.”
Ellie still thinks she would rather play a character like that, but Will’s got a point. He’s way more shy and nervous than daring and cunning. In a way, he reminds Ellie of Sam. Sam probably would’ve made a great cleric.
She smiles to herself at the reminder and agrees, “Alright. If you insist.”
“Excellent.” Will jots it down. Flipping through the book some more, “Now to pick a race.”
This time, Ellie’s paying more attention. Scanning the book, she stops him before he’s even finished explaining her options.
“I like gnomes.”
Will gives her another curious look.
“What? If that gonna throw off party balance too?”
“No,” he shakes his head. “It’s just a funny choice is all.”
But Ellie’s decided. She doesn’t want to be something handsome and heroic or tough and dangerous, she’d rather be something unexpected.
Quickly filling in the rest of her character sheet, Will helps her pick a few spells and starts trying to explain the rules Andrew calls the meeting to order.
Taking a seat, “It’ll make more sense once you get into the game anyway.”
Ellie grabs the desk next to him so she can ask him questions as they go along, butterflies flapping around wildly in the pit of her stomach. She hadn’t realized how nerve-wracking this would be, so much to know and learn. And somehow exciting at the same time.
Something tells Ellie it wasn’t being seen as a nerd which scared her about accepting Andrew’s invitation. Joining a club or a party, as Will keeps referring to it, feels unnatural to Ellie. She’s never been one for big friend groups. She’s hardly ever been one for friends, with only a few exceptions along the way.
Something tells her this is going to be different though. She wants it to be different.
Everyone finally settled down, Andrew begins.
“You all wake, well-rested and fully recovered. As you gather in the tavern for breakfast, a new traveler arrives. Would you like to introduce your character, Ellie?”
----------
On the one hand, Ellie did have fun last week. She’s even started hanging out with Will during school; she hadn’t realized how many classes they had together.
On the other, Ellie’s annoyed this is the third week in a row Joel’s been late for picking her up. Which is why at two-thirty, Ellie finds herself back in Andrew’s classroom, sitting next to Will and rolling ridiculously numbered dice.
She forgets how annoyed she is when she rolls her first twenty against a monster and the party erupts into cheers. Players and characters alike are excited for her landing the killing blow.
Mike’s dwarven paladin is amazed, “I’ve never seen such radiance from the gods. What deity has granted you such divine power?”
Ellie stammers, looking to Will, unsure how to respond. All they did was pick a race and class last week, she didn’t know she was supposed to build her gnome cleric a full backstory too.
“Uh – I’m not sure,” she winces.
She knows it’s a cop out for the other players and their characters, but Ellie really hasn’t figured out who her character is yet.
“Well, wherever it came from, it really saved our asses,” Matt lets it slide and the conversation moves on.
Will leans over, “I have some other books that might help you decide more about your character, if you want to come over.”
“There are other books?”
Turns out Will has a huge collection at his house, not just of the rule books for the version of Dungeons & Dragons they play at club, but for every version of the game since the seventies.
Ellie gawks, “Wow. You really are a total fucking nerd.”
“So are you with your retro sci-fi comic books,” Will shoots back. “I’ll take it as a compliment.”
Ellie laughs, “You could borrow them sometime, if you want.”
“Really?” he’s stunned.
“Yeah. I’ve read them like a dozen times already. Besides, I think I’m going to need to borrow a few of these and fair’s fair, right?”
“Does that mean you’re going to join for good?”
“I guess I am.”
Grinning, Will pulls a couple of the books off the shelf, “Here. Start with these.”
Ellie pages through, mostly looking at the pictures as Will describes each of the various gods in detail. As he’s waving his arms around, Ellie catches sight of the time on his watch.
“Shit. Can I borrow your phone?”
Joel answers on the first ring and Ellie rushes to explain, “Sorry, Joel. I know I should’ve called, but I got invited to a friend’s house after D&D and I just sort of forgot.”
“You’re damn lucky Andrew already filled me in,” he grumbles.
Ellie knows he’s annoyed, but she can’t help herself, “You know, I could’ve just texted you myself if you’d let me have my own phone.”
“Don’t push your luck, kiddo. It’s late. You’ve got school tomorrow. I’m coming to get you.”
Hanging up, Ellie passes Will’s phone back to him, a look of pure confusion spread across his face. “My foster dad’s on his way.”
“Oh. Okay. You’re not in trouble cause of me, are you?”
“No. Joel’s just being Joel about it. He’ll get over it.” Changing the subject, “Hey, we should hang out more often. This was fun.”
Ellie means it. Will might be a massive dork, but then again so is Cassie. At least, now she knows a massive dork who’s local to hang out with.
“Only if it doesn’t get you in trouble with your foster dad again.”
Blowing a raspberry, “I’ve been in way worse trouble with Joel than this.”
----------
“Use it responsibly,” Joel punctuates each word.
“Jeez, Joel. It’s not like you gave me a gun.”
“Don’t be a smartass, Ellie,” he chastises her. “What are the rules?”
“What you say goes,” Ellie repeats his number one rule for being on the run.
“More specifically.”
“Phone and texting only.”
“And I better be the first person you contact if you decide to wander off after school again.”
Ellie rolls her eyes at the reminder. Of all the places she could’ve gone, Will’s house isn’t exactly the most risky or dangerous. His mom’s a fucking helicopter after all, forcing them to keep the door to his room open, as if something was gonna happen between them.
She’s had a phone for a whole weekend and all she’s really done with it is text Cassie, sending her stupid emojis, pictures of Nike, selfies, and loads of bad candids of everyone else. What else would she even use it for?
Aside from Cassie, there’s one other person she still needs to add to her contacts.
Ellie chases him down in the hallway, “Hey Will!”
Spinning around, “Hey Ellie.”
“Can I borrow your phone for a second?”
“Yeah. Sure. What’s up?”
“Nothing, just need to let Joel know something.”
“Isn’t it weird for your foster dad to be getting texts and phone calls from strange numbers?”
Ellie snorts, “That’s his problem for not letting me have a phone.” She has to suppress her grin lest she give the game away as she enters her number into Will’s contacts and texts herself. She hands the phone back, “See you in class.”
The bell rings as Ellie sits down for algebra. Taking out her phone instead of her textbook, she adds Will to her contacts then opens the message she sent to herself from Will’s phone.
[Will 8:34 AM] 🐉 🧙♂️ ⚗️ 🎱
[Me 8:37 AM] Is it thursday yet????
[Will 8:38 AM] Omg ellie? You got a phone??
[Me 8:38 AM] Yeah nerd
[Me 8:39 AM] NEW PHONE WHO DIS
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Though Ellie and Will are practically attached at the hip in and out of the game. Ellie’s surprised how much she’s going to miss everyone else over the break too.
Andrew throws a bunch of yetis at the party in a holiday-themed session. Once they’ve kicked some serious yeti ass, a banquet is held by the king and queen in their honor, though it doesn’t prevent them from having an equally undignified snowball fight with the kingdom’s prince and princess.
The session is over all too soon, ending with them all settling down at a tavern as Louise’s elven bard performs for the locals.
“And that’s where we’ll pick up after the winter break.”
There’s a mixture of disappointed groans and applause for Andrew’s outstanding storytelling.
Ellie stretches and reaches for her backpack to put away her character sheet when a little pouch is dropped in front of her.
She looks up at Will and everyone else beaming at her. “We got you a little something.”
Ellie stares open-mouthed at the velvet pouch. Stammering, “But – I didn’t get you guys anything.”
“Are you kidding? You’ve been the only thing keeping us alive so far this year. It’s about time you had your own dice.” Luke’s one to talk; his tiefling barbarian takes more hits than anybody.
“Hopefully, they’ll help you improve your initiative rolls,” Mary holds up a pair of crossed fingers. Her half-orc wizard’s been instrumental in helping Ellie learn how to play a spellcaster.
“Seriously guys, you shouldn’t have bought me anything,” Ellie protests.
“Who said we bought you anything?” Toby punches her in the shoulder; thankfully his hits don’t hurt nearly as much as his halfling monk’s. “We gave you some our each of our sets – even Louise.”
“Hey!”
Ellie can’t help laughing at Louise’s possessiveness over her dice horde, but it makes the gift all the more generous.
“You were borrowing all of them already anyway. Might as well hang onto the ones that have been working for you,” Tim adds with all the wisdom of their aasimar druid.
Finally, Ellie opens the bag and pulls out a d20. She recognizes it as one of Will’s – the one she rolled her first twenty on.
“To the battles ahead!” Ellie spins the die up in the air to see where it will land.