Mary looked up and gave me a wane smile, then went back to picking at her French fires.
"What's wrong?" I questioned. "That little trick with the quarter usually cheers you up."
"I… Just wonder sometimes." she sighed, " You know all the books like I read, and the movies? Do you ever think anything like that could be… real? My parents told me that I should get my nose out of the books and stop reading 'fairy tales'… And that I only like you because you're… 'different', in a bad way."
“…In a bad way,” I reiterated in shock. It was a whole lot to take in, I’d always imagined Mary’s parents as nice people to have raised such a sweet daughter. “I suppose they could exist, I mean…I believe in dragons and such…”
Realizing what I was saying, I quickly changed the subject. “But that’s me, my life’s different…” I took my dragon anatomy book from my bag, and for the first time, showed it to someone at school.
Mary flipped through the book, admiring the drawings of the dragon structure for a few minutes before looking back up at me. “This book is amazingly detailed, where’d you get it?”
“My mother,” this was the truth; a little known fact about the Firelancer of RoF was how much she knew about creatures and how they worked. “She’s the one that wrote it and even did the pictures.”
“So I suppose she’s really seen a dragon and you want to work with them?” Mary was surprisingly serious and curious, as though she believed this.
“No,” I lied. “Working on mechanics of imaginary creatures helps to understand how those of real ones work. I want to be a veteranarian.” The last part wasn’t a complete lie, I’d always wanted to be a dragon healer.
“Did you hear that I got invited to a party tonight?” I said quickly, intending to change the subject to a lighter one. Mary just looked more miserable.
"Yes, no one ever invites me to parties.” Ugh, complete failure there.
“They’re not all that great…” I mumbles, but seeing that look on her face heaved a sigh and made a decision that will probably always haunt me. “If you really want to do, I can take you tonight.”
Mary beamed at me, her face looking as though it were glowing. “Okay, give me the aggress and I’ll meet you there!” With a groan, I did so. I was already regretting this idea, but I had no idea how much I would come to do so…
