Boseman High School Shenanigans: Episode 1

"Yeah, something for us to do after someone flips the table. Sore losers!"

Lily had been known to sulk off to a movie with Wendy and whoever else had thrown in the towel, once things went against her at the table.

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Lily enters the house with Wendy, arms hooked into each other, as they wait for the doorbell to be answered.

"Eyes ahead!" she warns Wendy, as she stands stock still, waiting for you know who…

Once the woman answers, Lily yanks Wendy with her elbow gently as a reminder.

Eyes up here…

There was a pang of jealousy there maybe. A comparing… A judgement being made about the woman to cover over insecurities of her own.

Maybe…

"Thanks, Mrs Solomon. And thanks for having us! This place is so great! Really!" she says, pulling Wendy out of the room at a jog, eager to join the others, and be away from the woman upstairs.

Once the group breaks up in school, Zach calls his father to be picked up. As he climbs into the passenger seat of the car, he asks, "Dad, there's this-"

"You're wearing that nice shirt," Mr. Tidwell replies. "I thought you didn't like it."

"I do like it," Zach frowns. "I just usually don't think I can pull it off. I felt good about myself today."

"That's wonderful, Zachary," the man replies, reaching over and ruffling Zach's hair, to which Zach replies with an uncertain frown. "What were you saying?"

"There's this thing, at Fred's house. Just some board games. Emily and Lily will be there. You could drive me there and pick me up. It's safe. Just me and my friends."

"Any boys I need to be worried about?" James Tidwell asks, raising an eyebrow. "How about this Fred?"

"Dad!" Zach replies, his cheeks turning red at the suggestion. "Can I please just spend the evening with my friends?"

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Zach's dad does end up relenting, under the condition that he drives Zach there and picks him up at an unreasonably early time. But it's better than nothing, so Zach agrees. When he arrives at the Solomon house and Belinda leads him inside, Zach doesn't notice anything about Freddy's stepmother. Unlike the eyes of most male friends of Freddy's - and some of his female friends - Zach's eyes don't linger on her at all. He thanks her for leading her to the basement door, then enters. "It was a struggle," he announces as he comes down the stairs. "But my dad did agree that I could come, for a short while at least." He glances around, pretending to just casually be assessing the scene while he's actually only looking for one specific face, Aaron's.

Emily drives whoever needs a ride to Freddie's and the group is together again. She tries not to let her eyes widen in amazement at the palatial house. It oozed money and Emily immediately started putting dollar values on everything she saw. The Monet on the wall, the sculpture by the spacious hallway, and when she passed the theatre room she stopped short and gawked. Several speakers and a massive woofer sat in various strategic locations. Four rows of plush reclining armchairs sat facing the screen and a massive selection of DVD's were stored neatly in a cherry cabinet on either side of the screen.

What I wouldn't give for a room like that!

The basement was more of the same. Completely finished, a large pool table sat at one end, a ping pong table at the other, and a real gaming table with the softest-looking green cloth she had ever felt. At one end of it stood a GM screen and behind it a thick book. In the middle of the room, recessed into a wall stood a shiny marble-topped bar counter with various beers on tap right behind it.

"Whoa. This house is so cool. I wonder if we can pour ourselves some beer?" she asked no one in particular. Enily also wondered if she could maybe sell the parents some weed as she wandered over to the gaming table to take a look at the book that sat on it.

"Oh! I've always wondered about this game. Pathfinder." Hefting the volme she said, "Yikes, it's heavy."

Freddie has Carcasone laid out (and even read the rules again) because they might be expecting it, but he also has Betrayal at House on the Hill since it's evening and getting dark and someday he'll get to be the villain if he just keeps playing it. But the highlight is the Pathfinder setup, with dice for everyone, pre-printed premade character sheets, and a module he knows enough to run.

The downstairs family room is brightly lit. He's got the big screen playing a playlist of bunch of retro hits from 2012 off YouTube Music. Below the TV is his father's liquor cabinet, locked, and no one knows where the key is. Inside are probably a bunch of treats, but who knows. Several scented candles burn because teens in a basement, 'nuf said.

Upstairs, the pizza is ready, the drinks are ready. His stepmother is (sooo hot its awkward) playing hostess with the mostess.

Even Debby and Sarah are down with him, making fun of his playlist. As he sings along to Skyfall, Debby says, "You love, Adele, don't you? Chubby chaser!"

Sarah chews on her gluten free crust, free range tomato sauce, artisan cheese and organic veggie pizza (she insisted!), she shakes her head, "No fat shaming! That became a no-no before 2012."

Lily and Wendy get settled downstairs, and try to shake off those first few minutes where you feel awkward for intruding into someone else’s place. Once they start to chill out, Lily starts too much on some snack food.

"So… do we bring the pizza downstairs, or are we supposed to eat up there?" she asks, innocently enough. But her mind did turn to the woman above, and spending more time up there.

Then the song changes, and Lily turns to Wendy, and deadpan delivers the lyrics:

"Hey. I just met you.." she starts.

"… and this is crazy." she follows on, and then Wendy joins in, mirroring her.

"But here’s my number…" Lily says with faux embarrassment, passing across an imaginary piece of paper.

"… so call me maybe?" Wendy chimes, twirling her hair in mock sweetness. And then they laugh.

"Pizzaaa?!" Lily asks then again!

"Yeah good question and ..." Emily leans close to Freddie, "Will your mom come down once we are all down here? I brought some weed."

Zach sits down at the table. Once Emily is done with the Pathfinder book, he starts flipping through it. With Freddy's sisters around as well, it's starting to feel like a party, which makes him a bit nervous, so he prefers to stay at the edge of it for now. He does look up from the book at Lily and Wendy's antics, smiling at the two of them for a moment.
At Emily's suggestion, his eyes widen and he shakes his head. "If I smell like weed when my dad picks me up, he's going to kill me." He's also never tried weed before, so the thought makes him nervous. But he doesn't need to tell anyone that.

Freddie considers the household rules: there are no rules. Belinda was largely kept out of any parenting decisions from his father, and since his death, everyone has been a little withdrawn. Still, she was an extrovert and loved people, especially people her mental age. I.e., teens. That was mean, she's awesome, he thinks, thinking mostly of her amazing wardrobe choices.

He catches Sarah's eye and they probably share the same thought. "Yeah, she'll probably come down. She might even toke. She won't want to play a game though. Much too nerdy to be associated with."

Surprised by that piece of news Emily double-checks with Freddie. "Are you sure she won't mind us smoking? I mean, wow. She sounds super cool."

Emily starts planning how she would approach selling the woman a baggie. She was trying to save up for a car to replace the piece of crap van that her mother insisted she drives because vans were for grownups and pussies.

"I got gum Zach. Just go outside and put your back to the breeze and you're good."

She wasn't sure if that was entirely true but it sounded good.

Being aware of Zach's feelings, Lily is easily able to recognize the look of total adoration on Zach's face as he looks at the red-cheeked Aaron. "No worries," Zach tells him. "You haven't missed anything yet." Holding up the Pathfinder book, he asks, "Do you know this? We might try it out after pizza."

He then turns to Emily again. "Does it work like that? The weed thing, I mean?" He fights with himself about it. "I don't know. I'll see," he then says. He's not super excited about the prospect, but he might get peer-pressured into it later. "How is Steve by the way? Hope he didn't get in anymore trouble. He really didn't do anything wrong. Oh, we should have invited him to this." With a chuckle, he adds, "I was considering inviting Rose, as a peace offer. But I'm pretty sure she wouldn't want anything to do with this kind of nerd stuff."

With fake outrage, Lily winds up:

"He missed our gorgeous cover of ‘Call Me Maybe’!" to which Wendy slaps her arm.

"Oh, right. Yeah, you didn’t miss much."

Then she ponders a second:

"Is weed good for pain relief? Only I kind of shoulder barged whatsherface pretty hard earlier!"

Freddie waves to the girls as they leave, not quite daring to give them hugs as much as he wants to. They haven't finished that conversation, and he needs to make that a priority.

When Connery shuffles down the stairs, he offers Aaron a manly handshake, welcoming him to the party. "Pizzas upstairs, you saw. Help yourself to drinks in the fridge." He sees that Aaron is more interested in someone else so doesn't take any more of his time.

He stands by Emily who doesn't seem to be pushed up with anyone the way Wendy and Lily hang close, and the way Aaron and Zach seem to be friends.

To the group he says, "So there are what, six of us? Lots of choices. What does everyone want to do? Got a few tasty boardgames, good for playing and talking, or Pathfinder which can be more involved?"

"Oh hey, Aaron. You made it."

Emily gives him a warm smile and then answers Zach's question honestly. "Probably not. I don't really know since I've never had to hide it. It's worth a shot if you want to try it. Could work I suppose. And don't worry about Steve. He'll be fine." Emily ignores the bit about inviting her younger brother.

Emily shrugs at Freddie who seems to be standing a little close. Maybe he enjoyed that kiss more than he let on, she thinks. "I'm fine with whatever for games but I probably wouldn't mind taking a look at Pathfinder."

Freddie turns the music to an instrumental-only fantasy playlist, filled with rising horns and drums, and then turns it down a little.

He retrieves a stack of stapled papers together from a bag on the floor, and sets them on the game table. "The world of Golarion is like the world of Conan the Barbarian or the Lord of the Rings in technology, with similar lands as any found on Earth, and some far stranger. It is full of diverse species and a ton of dangers. You are Pathfinders, members of the Pathfinder Society, a guild of explorers and trouble-shooters. And best of all, the world of Golarion is full of magic..."

He begins to describe the land of Osirion, based entirely on ancient Egypt, where a necropolis, a city of the dead that has been closed for 1800 years (following a devastating plague), has been opened for exploration and to recover what funereal treasures were lost in the shadowed past. The party has gathered together and formed a licensed group of explorers and have made their way into the Tomb of Akhentepi....

"As you stand before a well reaching down into the darkness of the tomb, a few feet of severed rope hanging from a piton driven into the stone, you take stock of each other. Why don't each of you describe the character that you chose from the stack, give them a name, and maybe a few key things about your character that the others would know, such as your species, class, gender, and a couple abilities listed. Don't worry if you don't understand how any of this works, we'll learn as we go."

He looks at the others, seeing how they sat and which ones seem eager and which reluctant. He's good at reading people, drawing them into groups and getting them to open up when they would otherwise stay silent. Hopefully they are all comfortable enough with each other (other than Aaron who may need some schmoozing to drop his many barriers) that they don't hold back.

Zach listens to Freddie explain the game. He still doesn't really know how it's supposed to work, but he decides he can probably learn as they're going. At least none of the others seem all that familiar with it either, except Freddie of course. He briefly chuckles at the idea of Rose being here. She would definitely not be playing along with something like this.

When Freddie hands the character sheets around, Zach makes sure to look through them together with Aaron, leaning closer to him so they can both read at the same time. As Zach discovers, it is unfortunately impossible to do this without at least some accidental brushing of fingers. The longer it's going on, the less he's able to concentrate on the papers, his eyes moving up to Aaron's face more and more instead, so he just goes with the first sheet that had caught his attention. The character sounds pretty cool, after all.

When Freddie asks them all to introduce themselves, Zach hesitates briefly, then decides to just go ahead. "I'm, uh, this character, his name is... Well, I haven't filled it in yet. What would a half-elf guy be called?" He clears his throat. "Anyway, he's a guy, he's a half-elf and he's a bard. Which, well, like Jaskier in the Witcher, I guess, if you've watched that show. So, if I understand this right, he can help you guys out with songs. Fred, you'll have to explain how that works when we get to it. I'm not sure why he'd be going down into some dark tomb, but I guess because we're friends and you'd be screwed without his magic songs or whatever." Eager to get out of the spotlight, he quickly adds, "Anyway, who are you all playing?"

Emily looks a little like a deer in the headlights. "So we are kind of like acting then, huh?" She's a little nervous about doing that in front of everyone lest she make a fool of herself. She also thinks how fun this game would be if they were all high but decides to cool it before she gets a reputation of being a pushy pest. The more she listens to Freddie setting the scene, the more she is taken away by her imagination into the world being created by his words. It's also surprising to see Freddie so immersed in his task. It was another side of the boy she hadn't seen or expected ans she liked it.

Rifling through the stack of character sheets, she comes to one that appeals to her the most and asks,"Um... can I be a rogue?"