Valeria Torres and the Midas Vault

Chapter 11: The Rival Faction

The rest of the evening went smoothly, as Jada and Frank warmed to her new friends without further incident. Jada laughed at most of Sai's and James' jokes, while Frank connected with Jon and Roberta as they entered a fierce debate involving the Lord of the Rings and Star Wars. They dined on meatloaf and vegetables, and once finished, Frank and Jada left them alone for the evening. James then led them in a Dungeons and Dragons session.

Valeria found the mechanics a little confusing; it was a complex numbers game involving twenty sided dice, monsters, and a game master who pretended to be various fictional characters. Their story was titled, The kidnapping of Princess Arelina, and wasn't much different than many typical role-playing stories.

The story arc followed a damsel in distress trope, and Valeria found that disappointing. She knew another story where a princess was always getting kidnapped, and the king hired a man to go rescue her.

Super Mario Brothers.

She tried to sound enthusiastic as they played, but secretly groaned in her mind. What about a story where the princess saves Mario? Now that was a game she'd like to play. Her character started with two skills; Sneak Attack was self explanatory, and she used it every chance she could. The other was Thieves' Cant - an encrypted Rogue language. Since she was the only Rogue in their game, she found this skill useless.

They played for a little over an hour and killed three monsters. They stopped after Sai and Roberta received texts from their parents, asking for their current location. Sai's parents agreed to pick everyone up and take them all home. He turned to Valeria after putting his phone down.

"Can I use your bathroom?"

"Sure," she replied, "Go ahead."

When he came out, Sai had a new set of clothes on. He traded his stained jeans and Nirvana T-shirt for pleated khakis and a buttoned up collar shirt.

Grinning, Valeria whistled suggestively from the foyer. Sai laughed as he pointed to his new set of clothes.

"I know, I know. My parents think I wear this to school every day. Can you keep a secret?"

"I dunno," she said, her tone sarcastic. "It's gonna cost ya."

"How much?"

"Some more songs later. Better go learn some more Camilla songs."

"Alright," he said, his cheeks starting to flush. "I will."

James, Roberta, and Jon finished packing up their things in the living room and joined them near the foyer.

"Thanks for having us over, Valeria," Roberta said. "I was a little skeptical at first, but you're alright."

"Thanks," she replied. "You guys are okay too. See you tomorrow."

James pointed at her. "Don't sit at our table for lunch. Sit with Sheri and the Elites. We can meet up after school?"

Shrugging her shoulders, Valeria asked, "You really think they want me there?"

"Yeah," Jon said, checking his phone. "They're talking about you. I hacked Sheri's phone, and they plan to do some kind of makeover on you."

"Well," she said with distaste, "I guess that's comforting. You're sure they're not making fun of me?"

Jon shook his head. "Not really. Sheri is, and I quote: super excited to use V's Spanish to find authentic Mexican food downtown."

Valeria rolled her eyes. She wasn't particularly excited about becoming a token Latina friend - especially to that dumbass. She might need to explain that not all Latinos are Mexican. "They're calling me, V?" she asked.