Seven + Appear

Appear before your friends and show them that you care.

After their practice, the trio went to play video games at Emerald's house. Her parents were even more shocked now that she brought two boys to her house this time.
"Is one of you her boyfriend?" her father asked with a smirk.
"No!" Emerald retorted quickly.
Roy and Ethan just smiled.
Emerald led them down the stairs, where her older sister was petting Emerald's cat.
"Hi, Nic," Emerald said, getting her attention.
Nic looked up and noticed the boys first. "Who are they?"
"Well, who are you?" Roy asked, smiling.
"She's my older sister Nicole, who is here scrounging off our food tonight," Emerald said teasingly. "And these two are my friends, Roy and Ethan." She motioned toward them.
"Just friends? Come on, little sis, one of them is your boyfriend, right?" Nic asked, poking Emerald with her elbow and smirking.
Emerald flushed with embarrassment and anger. "No."
Ethan and Roy smiled awkwardly and looked at each other.
Nic looked at them. "If you guys do anything to my sister, I will kill you," Nic said and paused for a second. "Well, see ya at supper!" She smiled, stuck her tongue out, then went upstairs, humming.
"What a nice sister you got there, Emerald," Ethan said sarcastically.
"I didn't see her last time I came," Roy stated. "How old is she?"
"She's twenty-five and does not live here with me," Emerald answered.
The two boys replied with "Oh."
"So what game do you two want to play?"
"What do you have?" Ethan asked.
"Go look," Emerald ordered, motioning to a shelf with many games stacked on it.

Ethan and Roy found a co-op game to play together. They each made their own character and started their story. Emerald was a mage trapped in a fort. Ethan was a warrior trapped in a cult's cave. Lastly, Roy was a thief captured by the authorities.
In their stories, they all escaped their own problems and were brought together by a well-known group they each joined. From then on, they have to do quests together and choose what happens in the video game's world. They were shouting, laughing, and freaking out over everything that was happening.
Eventually, they were interrupted by Emerald's father yelling from the stairway.
"Hey, kids, get up here and eat!"
"Ok!" Emerald answered. "Let's go!"
The two boys followed her to the dining room and ate with her family. Her parents and sister were asking them questions about how they met and other stuff.
"You never told me you were in the school play, M!" Nic said with an upset face.
"Sorry, I didn't think about it," Emerald stated.
"So what does your character do?" Nic asked excitedly.
"Gets kissed a lot," Ethan snickered.
Nic and her parents gaped in shock at Ethan, while he looked back a little embarrassed for mentioning it.
"It is true," Emerald replied, smiling but blushing.
"Who kisses you? Someone handsome?" Nic asked on, smirking.
Emerald's head automatically slumped and looked down, while she pointed to both of the boys.
Nic started giggling, while Emerald hid her blushing with her hair. "I am sooo going to see the play, M!" Nic gave Emerald a thumbs up. Nic looked at their parents, "You two are coming, too."
"Okay."
"Whatever."
A minute of eating silence.
"So what are you doing in the real world out there, Nicole?" Ethan asked, changing the subject of conversation.
"I'm a dentist. Fun stuff," she answered, cutting her piece of meat.
"That's cool," Roy said happily.
"Yeup! I love it!" Nic smiled. "Our mom is a cook at a nearby restaurant, and our dad is a detective. Just be careful, our dad will talk a lot if you allow him."
"Hey!" her father shouted with food in his mouth.
Emerald and Nic giggled.

After the group finished eating, the family said their goodbyes to the two boys. They left with some cupcakes and smiles.
"Emerald's family is so cool!" Ethan said excitedly, walking beside Roy.
"I know. I'm surprised she never talks about how awesome they are," Roy said.
"Actually . . ." Ethan started to say.
"What?" Roy looked at him.
"I kind of . . . accidentally . . . read their minds," Ethan answered.
"Well, what's wrong?"
"I'm not sure. I guess they're just worried about her, because she never usually has friends over or really friends in general. Besides she's also not used to talking to people, so why would she suddenly talk about her family to us? And we don't talk about our families either."
"Good point, we should introduce her to our families!" Roy shouted joyfully.
"Yeah."
They smiled to each other and finally separated to their own houses.

Roy woke up extra early in the morning for school with a plan. He pondered over the possibilities that could happen, if he put the plan into action. After a bit of thought, he grinned and got around for school. He gelled his bright red hair to stay in place, put on an outfit consisting of a red shirt with blue baggy jeans, slipped on his purple sneakers, and pulled on his bright yellow jacket. Then he ate breakfast in his empty kitchen, brushed his teeth, grabbed his backpack, and finally headed outside. He rubbed his hands together to warm them up. He breathed in then out deeply, considering if he should really do it.
"Ah, just do it!" he yelled at himself quietly.
Quickly, he stood still like a statue and thought of the sidewalk in front of Emerald's house. He concentrated and concentrated, then eventually he saw black for a split second. When he opened his eyes in shock, he realized he was really in front of Emerald's house. But instead of just her house, there was Emerald walking toward him, looking down at the sidewalk. He tried to say something, but his throat stopped him. He was exhausted.
Roy even figured this would happen, but he felt his knees begin to tremble. Just then, Emerald looked up and gasped at seeing Roy right there in front of her in the morning. Noticing his sweaty appearance and stance, she quickly ran to him. As his knees finally gave out, Emerald caught him carefully. She grunted at his weight but was still able to hold him up long enough.
"Roy! What are you doing?!" she shouted.
Roy picked himself up and stood up with a weak smile. "I wanted to start using my power more often. So I decided to appear here, before you left for school," he answered, panting in between words every now and then.
"What if I wasn't out here? You would have fallen over and gotten hurt!" she said angrily with concern in her eyes.
Roy blushed, knowing that he had expected to crash land in the first place. "I planned ahead."
Emerald crossed her arms. "Okay, then."
"All right, let's take off!" He outstretched his hand to her.
She looked at it with a raised brow in question.
"I'm going to teleport us," he replied.
"How do you even know it will work? What if I get ripped apart for traveling that way?"
Roy looked up to the sky in thought, then snapped his fingers with a smile. "My backpack is perfectly fine." He motioned to his messenger bag.
Emerald looked at it carefully. "If I die, I will haunt you."
Roy chuckled. "Then I will know ghosts truly exist!"
Emerald shook her head in fake shame. "Let's try it."
Roy held out his hand again, and she hesitantly grabbed it. As she grabbed it, he pulled her into his chest, hugged her tightly, and whispered, "Just for safety."
She blushed.
Then he quickly thought of the front of their school behind some bushes over and over again.
In a flash, they were behind the bushes. Once again, Roy felt weak and let go of Emerald, falling backward. Instead of falling, his arms were grabbed roughly.
"You really need to keep practicing," Emerald said with a sigh, grunting in the process.
Roy stood up and looked at the sky. "Hey, at least I'm not sweating anymore."
Emerald looked him up and down, still holding his arms as he looked down at her. "Yeah, almost perfectly fine," she replied, let go of his arms, and walked a few steps away from him. "You're so heavy!"
Roy frowned playfully, "You're just weak."
Emerald stayed silent.
Roy chuckled, "Let's go to class now, silly."

Author's Note

Hoping my grammar is getting better.