A baseball flew away from the bat, slamming into the green plastic net of the batting cage. The worn white ball rolled back towards the batter, tapping her brown boots with a soft 'thud.' The sound of which was drowned out by the clang of another baseball being hit, then another, and another— And finally, the whirling noise of the automatic pitching machine. 

It was an old device that spat baseballs at high speeds for baseball players to hit. It was also being replaced by a newer, more modern machine. While the school staff decided what to do with the old machine, they had stored it on the school roof. The roof was a treasure trove of old things that the school might one day throw away. Not just the batting machine and cage, but broken desks, chairs, and even some other out-dated equipment.

The girl with brown boots— the one who had been hitting the baseballs,— exiled a puff of white breath. It was a normal spring morning. Frost coated the rooftop and the cold bit at the girl's ears and nose. They had gone rosy pink with irritation, but she was too stubborn to go inside just yet. The only light came from the slowly rising sun and an old lantern that was set outside of the batting cage. 

She walked towards the baseball spewing machine, which was coughing empty, and pressed a switch to turn it off. The old thing ran on a rechargeable battery and she decided to plug it in before leaving the roof. Her hands were cold from holding the metal baseball bat, so she cupped them over her face and blew warm breath into them. She giggled at the sight of her white breath as it puffed out in a steam cloud. It made her want to pretend she was a fictional dragon who breathed fire.

At that moment, Samantha did not know that she would soon be facing a real life dragon. In just eight hours, her life would depend on her new bat swinging skills.

Until then, she continued on her morning routine. After her exercise, she released her long brown hair from its active ponytail and combed it out with her fingers. She then picked up every baseball that she had hit, and stored them neatly in a basket. The bat, too, she wiped down to keep it clean from sweat before she tucked it away.

 Once everything looked the same way she had found it, she sneakily walked back to the staircase. Technically, students weren't allowed to play with the old equipment stored on the roof. They weren't even allowed to come to the roof at all… 

But Samantha had once had detention and been given the janitor's key so that she could access the cleaning supplies. 'Accidentally,' she had taken the key to a hardware store and 'somehow' duplicated it once.

Or twice.

She might have made three copies, just to be safe.

Getting caught on the roof would mean even more detention and would soon lead to her being suspended from school. There had been a time when she purposefully got suspended so as to get her parents' attention, but things had changed. She was now focused on her perfect attendance record and equally perfect grades. So while she still broke a few rules, she now made a conscious effort not to be caught doing so.

"On the roof again, huh?"

The sound of a voice was therefore enough to give Samantha a mini heart attack. She clenched her teeth and shrieked softly in alarm, ducking under an abandoned desk in the same motion. She heard the boy's voice laugh softly and recognized its owner. Pouting now, she got out from under the desk and glared at Mikale.

"You are too. Tattle and we'll both be suspended." She grumbled sourly.

"You know I won't." Mikale said, calming his teasing laughter. He walked over to her and took her bare hands in his, his expression now one of amused concern. "You're going to get frost bite if you don't come inside."

She maintained her pout, with air puffing her cheeks like a chipmunk. But, accepting his logic, she also nodded. "Fine… But just one more minute!"

"One more?" Mikale asked doubtfully. He felt her cold hands pull away from his effortlessly, as if she didn't treasure their contact, and watched as she darted to the edge of the roof. She hopped up, her pink skirt fluttering in a morning breeze, and put her palms down on the concrete ledge that surrounded the roof.

It looked like she was about to leap frog jump off of the school. Enough so that Mikale almost called out for her to stop, but was too mortified to make a sound. He could only reach out a hand to try to stop her.

Fortunately, she didn't jump off. Instead, with her usual level of careless confidence, she had pulled herself on the ledge and was now sitting with her legs hanging off of it. That, too, filled Mikale with anxiety… A lot of things did. 

"The sun is rising!" She announced, her voice filled with cheer, "Check it out! It's pink this morning!"

Mikale stood by her side and released a loud, tired sigh. This girl really knew how to toy with his feelings. One moment he was scared to death for her, then the next he was so grateful that they were friends. He leaned forward, elbows on the ledge, and smiled out towards the horizon.

"Yeah, sure is. It's pretty." 

"And look!" Samantha pointed outward, "You can see the shop lights coming on!"

"Must be almost six, then." Mikale mused, "You can see cars in the parking lot too."

"Ooooh, you can! Looks like stars, doesn't it?" 

It really did. 

From the school roof, they could see the stretching layout of their humble hometown. There was a parking lot in front of the school building, with a sidewalk that cut it cleanly in two. Across the parking lot was an iron gate, which marched the perimeter of the campus. Beyond that was a shopping district. The shops ran parallel to the school for over a mile. Overall, the area was highly modernized and most of the wildlife had been replaced with sleek, modern buildings.

Mikale found them ugly. At least in the morning, in moments like this, he could pretend the over-development was a sky of stars.

"What is it that the sailors say?" Samantha asked, bringing Mikale back to reality, "Red in the morny, sailors get horny?"

"No!" Mikale felt his cheeks flare red and straightened up, "Warning! Sailors take warning!"

"Ooooh. Hm." The brunette pressed her index finger to her lower lip, frowning thoughtfully. "So if the sky is pink and almost red… Do the sailors need to almost take warning today?"

"Uhhh…" Still flustered by Samantha's earlier misunderstanding, Mikale had no answer.

So, his silly friend continued on the conversation with herself. She spat out a laugh and then wiggled her legs. "What am I saying? We aren't sailors! Silly!"

[You're the silly one.] Mikale wanted to say, but he bit his tongue. Literally, because Samantha swung her legs over the edge and jumped into his arms. He was caught off guard and stumbled backwards, also biting his tongue from the surprise of it all.

At least he succeeded in controlling her landing.

"Okay! Time for school breakfast!" She declared, strolling passed him and towards the staircase, "I'm freezing!"

There was no point arguing with her. In fact, Mikale had no will to argue with her. For all of her silly antics, careless ways, and unearned confidence… As long as being with Samantha was his new 'normal,' Mikale felt like he would be okay.

In eight hours, that philosophy would be tested by a dragon.