“Denver James, you will stay for dinner. That’s final. No means no.” Mom said with her typical tone. She was always strict with me. “This happens every Friday night. Mom, please. Silas has food for us there already. Plus, it’s right next door.” I hate begging. “Marcie, please just let him go,” Dad said, peeking his head out of his office. “Den, go have fun. You can stay at the Riveras. Wren’s staying with her friend tonight may as well make it fair.” My older sister might have sucked at times, but she’s always been my savior. I almost cried. Mom huffed at my dad’s words, “Thank you, Dad. Love you, guys!” I rushed out the door. I heard Mom yell at Dad for allowing me to leave. My phone lit up at 7:30 PM, game night. I was so late. I hopped on the fence and flew through my best friend’s backyard. While tripping on my feet, I grabbed at the storm door handle. They’re going to be so mad.

“Look who finally decided to show up.” Lorelai mocked me as I opened the basement door. “Sorry, the dinner fiasco happened again. Wren was gone this time, so Dad saved my ass instead of having to sneak out.” I gasped for air as I sat in my usual spot. The old round table comprised my friends: the boys (Silas, Tanner, Erik, and Sam) and the gals (Holly, Isabelle, Anna, Lorelai, Jessica, and Harper.) “Now that you’re here, here’s your role card. I’m going to announce the roles.” Holly smiled. Holly and Sam were the new twins at the school. Isabelle adopted them into our friend group the past year. So far, they were good people. “My dad said I can stay over,” I whispered to Silas. “Cool, I’ll see if Tanner wants to join.” Silas turned to his left to ask Tanner. They both turned to me and nodded. “Erik, too?” I asked. Erik looked up from his phone, hearing his name. I pointed to his guitar on my right. He popped his thumb up before I could even ask. Tanner whispered, “I’ll have to run home and get my keyboard.” 

My name is Denver. I was almost seventeen years old when my life changed. We had just started having weekly gaming sessions at my best friend’s house, Silas Rivera. My friend group was a mix of two groups colliding when two of us started dating. Jessica and Erik’s doomed relationship made us start thinking of the future one by one. They had broken up in May before Junior year started. It was now mid-October, and they were still fighting. When they broke up, Erick told us that Jessica was moving too fast, so he broke up with her. Since they’d been together since our freshman year, the group would grow to be okay with their split. Unfortunately, a few girls have clearly identified who they stood with. At some point, most of us were convinced Jessie had kept causing fights out of spite to hurt Erik’s feelings. We all wished she’d grow up already.