《33》 Smaug Pays a Visit

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Tia's POV

"Why don't we ever hang out at your place?" Valerie asked curiously, peeking over the top of her magazine at me.

"Uhhhhhhhhhhhhh..." I leaned back against her bedroom wall, "Because..."

Come on brain, load a believable excuse!

"My 'dad' doesn't like people?" I told her. Valerie raised her eyebrows skeptically. I frowned at the magazine dangling from her fingers, grasping the opportunity to quickly change the subject.

"I thought I slept over so we could study! Not spend the entire night binge watching The Dragon Prince... I'm not complaining, but we have a test today..." I flicked the cover page. Valerie pulled it out of my reach defensively and poked her tongue out cheekily.

"It's a science magazine!" She protested.

I snorted, "It's not, but alright."

Valerie rolled over, effectively turning herself into a blanket burrito. I grabbed the change of clothes I had bought- some jeans (that I had scribbled a bunch of music notations on the cuffs- I get bored in maths, alright), a cool AVatar; The Last Airbender  hoodie and a Bon Jovi T-Shirt- ready to change into them for the looming school day. I shot a look back at Valerie.

"Wait, it's not even a science test!"

Valerie grinned like the Cheshire Cat as she wriggled over to the edge of her bed, reminding me of a caterpillar, "I know. I wondered how long it would take for you to pick up on that!"

I threw a pillow at the dark-haired girl.



Groaning internally, okay, and a little externally, I flicked open my Biology workbook, mentally preparing myself for another long lesson about body systems.

Yaaaay. Note the sarcasm. We'd just had a History exam, so half of the class was already mentally exhausted, and had no capacity for more learning today.

Next to me, Valerie was fiddling with the zip on her pencil case, staring off blankly into space. Our Biology teacher was still obsessing over writing up the lesson objectives on the board, not even realising that the class had already drifted off into Fairy Land.

A sudden series of sharp knocks on the other side of the classroom door jerked me back to attention.

"Someone must be late..." Valerie mumbled unenthusiastically, "They're about to get roasted."

"Again," I added as I raised my bottle for a swig of water, "How much are you willing to bet that it's Darren and Joel."

Darren and Joel were famous in our Biology class- and the grade- for being late to practically every single lesson, and consequently being yelled at. The record was12 consecutive minutes of pure, though admittedly censored, shouting by ourteacher (they may or may not have a competition to see who could get in troublethe most... Darren was winning.)

The classroom door swung open. A tall man dressed in smart-casual style clothes entered, quickly sweeping over the classroom with a calculative gaze. Everything about him seemed normal... Except for the very un-normal magical red cloak practically hugging him.

Naturally, being the oh-so socially gifted humanI am, I nearly choked on my water, "Holy crap, Val', it's Benedict Cumberbatch!"

Valerie shot me a weird look, "Who?"

Half-coughing over my water, I replied croakily, "Sherlock!"

She stared at me, nonplussed.

"Wait no, it's Doctor Strange here, isn't it..." I mused.

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