Sophia opened the door and walked in to Roger's house, as she had done so many times before over the last decade. Roger's parents basement, had served as the group's communal lair, their Hall of Justice, their Batcave, their TARDIS, for the last decade. Next week, all that was coming to an end.
As she entered, she saw Roger's mom, gathering her purse and keys in the hall. "Oh, hi, Sophia. Roger and James are already downstairs." she said, with a smile. "I'm late for my yoga. You kids have fun!"
"Hey, Ms. D. Enjoy your yoga class!" Sophia said, making way for the middle-aged woman to get to the door. Sophia was petite, so making sufficient space was easy, even in the Rogers cramped entranceway.
"Listen to me," Ms. Davidson said, shaking her head and making a disapproving sound. "Still saying, 'you kids', and each of you is now 18 years of age or older, and heading off to College next week. Good luck!" she said, smiling and hurrying out the door.
Sophia smiled, and waved to the rapidly closing door, before she started to slide off her sneakers. It was true; a week from now, the band of five friends that had been inseparable since Grade 5 was scattering to the winds. They hadn't talked about it, as a group, but it had gnawed at Sophia.
Roger, James, Luke, and Sophia. She'd known her friends for almost as long as she'd known herself, if not longer. They co-ordinated Hallowe'en costumes, played Mario Cart and Smash Brothers, helped each other in school. It
was
the end of an era, with the four of them headed off.
She padded down the stairs into Roger's room. The entire downstairs was surrendered to the Davidson's only son, making it a huge clubhouse for the four of them. Two comfortably worn leather easy chairs, a pull-out couch, and three bean-bag chairs made seating them all easy. Posters adored each wall -- Link and Zelda, Mario and Peach, Lord of the Rings, Dungeons & Dragons and World of Warcraft. She could close her eyes and recreate the room exactly in her mind; she spent at least half her waking life here, when she wasn't in school.
Roger was already down here, of course. He and James half-heartedly played at Smash Brothers Melee, obviously killing time as much as each other. Sophia arrived just in time to hear James cry, "Aaaand, that's
so lame!
" and the game to ring in with, "KO"!
She couldn't help but smile. "Samus Spam?"
"It's the only way he knows how to win." James complained, punching Roger in the shoulder.
"It's hardly an
unbeatable
tactic." Roger countered. "It's not like Samus is some unstoppable force of Smash Brothers oppression."
Sophia climbed over the back of the couch, taking position between her friends, and retrieved a controller from the floor. The game announced the arrival of a new challenger. "Where's Luke?"
James shrugged. "He said they he was coming. Luke's Mom is being weird. They had another going-away breakfast this morning."
Roger nodded, while Sophia contorted her face in pain. "Did she cry again?" Sophia asked.
"
Mah bay-bee!
" James called out, impersonating James' overwrought mother. "Oh, mah gawd, I can't
bee-leeve
it..." he said, shaking his head as his body wracked with fake sobs. Roger laughed, while Sophia snorted. "Did she not think he would get in, or something...? I mean, she should probably have seen this coming."
Sophia nodded, but couldn't help but think that the same caveat would apply to her. None of her friends seemed affected by their upcoming parting. She was starting to wonder if it was a "girl thing", a thought that upset her more, if anything.
Since she was eleven, her father had 'warned' her, on a regular basis, about the kind of
reputation
a girl gets from hanging out with boys. He'd continued to buy her new makeup and dresses, jewelry, scented bath oils and shampoo, all of which she accepted, wore, and used, while continuing to play video games, watch horror and action movies, and enjoy fantasy novels. Her mother had defended her many times -- "She's just
not like that
, Douglas -- lots of fathers would
love
a little bit more ...
rambunctiousness
, from their daughters!" -- but her father had never understood, and was always uncomfortable with her spending "hours and hours and
hours
in that basement with those boys, doing God knows what".
In truth, obviously, the hours and hours in the basement were nowhere near her father's terrified imaginings. Far more Mario Party was played than strip poker. Sophia had tried to connect with girls her age, but had found their conversations troublingly empty. No -- not empty, that wasn't fair. Sophia was sure that the girls enjoyed their fashion, hair, makeup and men every bit as much as she enjoyed discussing if MissingNo should be considered part of the Generation One roster, or if Other M was just a terrible game, or
the most terrible
. But makeup and hair weren't
her
topics of conversation.
"You are
not
in this game." Roger said, kicking her thigh with the balls of his feet. Sophia blinked, and glanced at him, and back at her screen. Samus, it seems, had blasted her Fox to about 60%, while remaining virtually unharmed; James, of course, was already KO'd. She frowned; she was unused to losing at the game. She focused her attention, and was able to recover sufficiently that Roger's inevitable victory was barely eked out, instead of effortless.