Coming Over

The Place Where Promises Aren’t Kept [Chapter 10]

Kyle never found a way to log into Rune Quest that day. He didn’t even manage to get to the game’s loading screen. He thrashed about more and more in his chair and against the keyboard every time he saw the words ‘blocked’ pop up on screen. When he was fed up, he decided to push the keyboard across the desk and just stare at me and Jakey doing our own things. I didn’t try to talk to him much and just let him cool down. Because of that, I didn’t even manage to learn his username so I could add him as a friend in game. That was a Friday. I promised myself that I would ask him right away when I saw him that Monday.

Mondays in Mrs. Carpenter’s class were for popcorn reading through our class book. I couldn’t focus on much of it. Even though Kyle was right beside me, I just wanted to talk about Rune Quest and playing with him and Jakey. I wanted to see his Mythril armor. I wanted to plan another adventure into the Goblin’s lands to take on their King. I imagined how strong we would be with a party of three.

When Mrs. Carpenter excused us at the end of the period, I immediately leaned into Kyle to remind him. “Hey, don’t forget about the computer lab today. You remember where it is, right?”

“Duh,” he said back. “Yeah, I’ll come by. I know there must be a way to get into Rune Quest.”

I laughed. I didn’t know if he was joking about that, but it seemed silly to keep trying. I definitely was daydreaming about our new, unbeatable team of three for the rest of my classes until lunch.

Kyle joined me and Jakey at the computer lab that day. He had already memorized his username and password for the school computers. I think he was really determined to find a way into Rune Quest. I was more patient.

“Hey, Kyle,” I called out to him. “Jakey and I were talking about this while we played together this weekend. We definitely need to get a team going on Rune Quest. All three of us.”

Jakey swallowed a bite of the sandwich. “Yeah, Mike says you’re strong. With Mythril armor. And you fought the Goblin King and won.”

Kyle didn’t remove his eyes from the screen or his hand from the mouse the whole while. I saw him searching various things; Rune Quest unblocked. how to unblock a site. how to get onto any website. I poked him in the arm. “What!?” He shouted and jutted his elbow out my way.

I glanced over at Mr. Tate’s corner of the room to make sure we weren’t going to get in trouble. “What’s your username? What server do you usually play on?”

“Oh,” Kyle hummed. “Yeah, we can get on together. I’m FirePlay3r. Player is spelled with the letter three instead of an e. I do whatever server has the least people.”

I yanked open my backpack at my feet and pulled out my notebook. I began scribbling on the back cardboard cover so I wouldn’t forget it. “Fire…play…three…er,” I said to myself. “Okay, so if you get a friend invite from IcyMike203 or MakeMeJake88, that’s us. I’m IcyMike.”

“That’s what I guessed,” Kyle responded with a mostly fake laugh and a roll of his eyes. “My freaking mom makes me do homework and reading before I can go on the computer, though. Can I just come over to your house?”

I didn’t believe what I was hearing. I had never heard those words put together that way before, even from Jakey. “Uh… I can ask my mom!”

“And she can pick me up, too?” Kyle said. He finally pulled his eyes away from the computer screen.

“We actually take the bus,” I said, nodding to Jakey as well.

“Then can’t I just ride the bus with you or something?”

I tried to wrap my brain around what he was asking me. I didn’t even think I could answer that. “I don’t know if the bus driver would be okay with some new kid on his bus. And how would your mom know where you are?”

Kyle shrugged. “I can just call from your house and let my mom know.”

If you need some more reasons about why this was not going to work, let me explain phones back during this time. Cell phones were things that really only adults had. They didn’t even have the internet yet. There was no way for a kid my age to just text someone with a simple question and get a simple answer back. I knew everything was wrong with Kyle’s request.

“Uh… it will be close to dinner time, and my mom likes to know if she has to feed someone else,” I said, making up a half-true excuse. “My mom has a big job now, and it tires her out a lot.”

“So you can go home and then tell your mom about me coming over?” Kyle asked. “Please, man? I don’t even have any homework, it’s a Monday. But I’ll get forced to sit and do junk anyways.”

I sighed and nodded. “I guess. What’s your number?”

---

Mom to Mom

Me and Jakey rode the bus home the same as usual that day. I had already forgotten about Kyle’s impossible request. Instead, I was mostly just imagining how the world of Rune Quest could be taken on with a party of three.

“I could work on my magic,” I said to Jakey in the seat to my side.

“I already have good magic,” he said, looking out the window.

“Kyle said he has Mythril armor. Didn’t you hear?”

“Uh huh,” Jakey said. It seemed like he was barely listening.

I continued, hoping I could put together a battle plan that he would like. “So, since he has strong gear, he can be the tank, right? Then with magic, we could have some range. Dang, maybe I have to finally try out archery. Then I could still carry food to keep us all healthy.”

Jakey sat up, getting ready as our stop was approaching. “You know that sort of thing doesn’t matter in Rune Quest, right? We can just all hit stuff with our swords. And if Kyle has strong armor like he says, that just means he won’t need as much healing. There’s no reason for us to even play with him.”

I didn’t know how to respond. For once, Jakey didn’t seem interested in talking about Rune Quest. The bus finally pulled into our neighborhood. I grabbed my backpack tight. I stood up and flung it over my shoulder as we stopped at the drop-off area.

“See you tomorrow, I guess,” I said as I waved goodbye to Jakey. He waived back but didn’t say anything as he went his own way.

I got home and opened the front door with my key. I was the first to return to the empty house that day. My mom was at work most likely. She had been working more days and longer hours. Jess would be home about thirty minutes later if she wasn’t going to a friend’s house instead. Regardless of who came home first, I wasn’t alone for very long.

I would usually take that time to get a snack or rush through any homework that I had. After that, I would start up the computer, log in, and then connect to the internet. If my mom didn’t hear that loud dial-up sound from the computer, then she would forget I was even on the internet and playing games back in the den. I could be online and leveling up all the way until dinner time.

That day was different, though. I kind of wandered about the house, lying on random furniture. Waiting around wasn’t part of my usual practices. I heard the front door unlock, followed by the rusting of plastic.

I met my mom in the front hall. She was carrying grocery bags across her arm. “Do you need any help?” I asked.

My mom stared at me like she hadn’t seen me before in her life. “Uh, sure. There are still a few bags out in the car.”

I had brought the remaining bags of groceries to her in the kitchen just a little bit later. She said a short ‘thank you.’ She seemed distracted and was looking around a little bit instead of putting things away. “Nothing is broken, I hope?”

“Huh? No,” I said. “What would be broken?”

“Well I was considering my son was what’s broken,” she said, finally looking me up and down. “I’d say I’ve never seen you outside the back room at this time of day. So, spit it out. What’s the matter?”

I failed to hide my grinning. “Can I invite a friend over tonight?”

My mom jerked back just a little. She thought about it for a little bit while putting cold things into the freezer. “A friend? Jakey, you mean?”

“No, his name is Kyle.”

My mom nearly slammed the freezer door. “A new friend, is it? And you want to invite him over right away?”

I shrugged. I guess I had learned the vague gesture from this new friend. “Yeah, he’s actually a new kid at school. Well, he’s been there a week. He started out sitting by me in Literature.”

“I see, so you’re the welcoming committee for this new kid, too?” My mom said like she was overflowing with pride. “Isn’t that great?”

“Yeah, he plays Rune Quest like me and Jakey.”

“Ah, I see now,” my mom nodded. “That’s the game you and Jake play on the internet. I assume since you wanted to invite him over today, you got his number and everything?”

“Yeah!” I confirmed. I had written it down beside his in-game name on the back of my notebook.

My mom nodded. “Well, I’d love to have this… his name was Kyle… over some time. But if his mom is anything like me, then she’d want to know where she’s sending her son. Plus, we’d have to plan something a little more special for dinner, huh?”

I smiled a little bit. I remembered that it was Kyle’s idea to come over in the first place. I thought about him having to sit and do homework instead of coming over to my place to have fun. All that would have to wait for another day to get the mom-to-mom formalities out of the way.

“So can I give you his number?” I asked my mom who was still unloading groceries.

She paused just for a moment. “I’d love to, Mike, but I don’t think I have the time to sit down on a phone call right now. I’ve got to get dinner going. But maybe tonight or tomorrow when I have less stuff on my plate. I’m sure Kyle will be able to wait, right?”

I nodded. “Yeah.”

At dinner, both my dad and my sister learned about Kyle. My mom wouldn’t stop asking about him. I repeated the same things I had said before at least a hundred times. They heard that he had just moved here and that he said he was from a smaller town. They heard that he thought this was a big city we were in. My dad asked if we were just going to play on the computer. I said that was most likely the plan. My sister asked if he was an only child. I said that I didn’t know. I asked if my mom was going to call him after dinner. I didn’t get an answer.

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