Krista left the TV room, stepping into the darkened hallway. It took her eyes a moment to adjust (and a good deal of blinking). Once she was finished, she stretched out her limbs a little and walked towards the general direction of where she guessed to be the kitchen. It was dark enough that she supposed that she could hide if needed. That seemed easier (and far less embarrassing) than explaining that she got lost. However, everyone else was in the TV room.

The group of girls had been shooting zombies for what Krista guessed to be roughly over an hour. It had seemed like a freaky game at first, but Krista had gradually gotten used to it while watching Ymir and Hitch play on the double team mode together. Both were good at it, shooting away with accuracy and precision, and sending those pixelated zombies back to the graves that they crawled out of.

Luckily, Krista was able to find the kitchen quickly and with relative ease. Once inside, she flicked on a light, feeling for the switch by running her hand along the wall. One bright white bulb turned on, giving the kitchen a soft glow.

The kitchen was new looking, with appliances that only looked to be five years old at best. The fridge was covered in magnets and papers, and a stack of dirty dishes was set up by the sink. The neon blue clock installed on the stove read that it was just a little bit after eight.

Krista quickly found the cups and prepared herself a glass of water, adding ice cubes from the freezer. She had been fine watching others play video games, but the moment that she herself had started attacking digital zombies, a thirst had begun to form in her throat, which she could now no longer ignore.

Though the TV room was a small ways away, Krista could hear her friends laughing and squealing about something. She had made sure to give someone else a turn on playing Reliving before she left.

Turning back towards the door, she took a sip of her water.

It was only when she was at the door frame that she noticed the presence of someone else. Truthfully, it was hard not to - she did bump into them, sending water flying forward.

"Ugh," the person said. The sound of water dripping filled Krista's ears. "This is just my luck, isn't it?"

Krista looked up. "Ymir? I'm so sorry!" She clutched the glass tighter in her hand; at least she could be thankful that she hadn't dropped that and sent glass flying everywhere. "What are you doing here?"

Ymir looked up from where she had been trying (and failing) to wipe water from her T-shirt. She smirked, cocking her head slightly to the side. "You know, I really think that I should be asking the same of you." Her eyes wondered down to the newly made, large puddle of water on the floor. "Then again, I think I can guess why."

"Do you need a napkin? I can get you one! Or do you need a change of shirts? Oh man, I don't have anything. Not that it would fit you since you're so much taller than me. Hey, maybe someone else has something." Krista's mind went blank for a moment. Did anyone there actually have clothes that would fit the tall, lanky girl?

Ymir chuckled. "Keep talking like that and you could write a whole book about me." She stepped forward, moving over the water puddle with ease. "I just came here to grab some snacks; come on, you deserve to have a little more water. Maybe I could use some too."

Krista nodded, averting her eyes once more to the ground. Every time she tried to look back at Ymir, memories of her recent babbling and accident flooded her mind, turning her cheeks a deep shade of pink.

Ymir had already turned away, and was grabbing some paper towels. She walked over and wiped up the spill with ease.

"You didn't have to do that." Krista bit her lip. "I could have."

Ymir shrugged. "Don't worry about it; I just wanted to make sure that no one here tripped and broke their heads open on this. Not everyone has brains that they can spill out, after all!" She threw her paper towels away and then went over and opened the door of a pantry. Krista had seen it when she walked in but hadn't bothered to open it. Inside was enough food to last months; it was tightly packed together. Though it had no actual ordering, Ymir quickly and easily went through it, grabbing whatever she felt she or the other girls might possibly need. When she finished, she shut it and balanced the different foods in her hands.

"Well, are you getting more water?"

Krista shook her head, and quickly went over and put away her cup. "No, I guess that I don't feel like drinking some any longer. That accident bothered me."

"Oh, don't get too worked up over it. It's no big deal." Ymir grinned. "But hey, if you feel like trying to earn back your forgiveness then you can carry some of this stuff for me."

Krista's face lit up. "Oh yes, certainly!" She grabbed a box of crackers, a package of cookies, and a bag of candy from Ymir's hands. The other girl relaxed when the extras left her hands, just before they were near the point of falling down.

"So, having fun?"

Krista nodded. "I like it."

"We're going to be playing a different game soon. That's okay with you, right?"

"Yeah, fine."

"Thanks for coming."

"I should be thanking you." Krista smiled. It felt strange, standing beside Ymir at that moment. Their eyes locked, and Ymir gave her this huge smile that made Krista's chest flutter. "I'm having a lot of fun tonight."

"Good," Ymir replied. "No, awesome. So, ready to play again? You were pretty good back there."

"Definitely!"

All she saw now were bright colors, princesses in race carts, and plumbers doing anything but plumbing. The group of girls had played another horror game for a while, and then stopped and pulled out another of Ymir's horror games. Truthfully, Krista hadn't found it all too scary. There were a few shocking parts, but she hadn't seen anything that made her want to scream so loud that the whole neighborhood could hear her like Hitch and Sasha had.

After that, Sasha had all but demanded that they change the game to something else.

"Something less gory," she said. She had rubbed her stomach, her dark eyes on the ground. "I want to keep my food down."

"Yeah," Hitch had backed her up. "That was fun for a while, but now I'm sick of it." She had scrunched her nose up. "It's getting kind of boring."

"Yeah," Ymir had responded, a smirk forming on her lips. "It's getting kind of boring listening to all of you scream your little heads off. My ears hurt."

Outside of the room and back in the kitchen, she turned on her phone. Krista didn't bother to flick on a light switch this time, just used her cell phone. The kitchen around her was lit just slightly, and shadows danced everywhere.

There were a few new texts on her phone, all from her father and step mother. She read through them, skimming over most of them. It was the standard where are you, what are you doing kind of texts.

I'M SPENDING THE NIGHT, she typed out to Rachel.

It wasn't a lie. The hour was late, and she doubted any of her friends felt like driving home. Hitch had even pulled out some blankets and pillows and said that the floor was all theirs (just don't wake up and use all of the hot water).

The floor didn't look like the most comfortable place in the world, but it seemed one hundred times more welcoming than her bed back home.

She turned off her phone and headed back towards the TV room, back to where her friends were crying about blue shells and banana peels, when her phone vibrated.

YOU KNOW WE'RE BUSY TOMORROW MORNING, RIGHT? HOW WILL I KNOW THAT YOU'LL BE READY AT NINE? -RACHEL

Krista rolled her eyes from the start, and finally let out a sigh at where she had signed her name at the end. Always proper, her step mother was.

I'LL BE THERE. DON'T WORRY. Krista's fingers hovered over the keyboard for a moment, wondering if she should jot down a quick lie. She could claim that her driver was busy or that she had heard that the roads were dangerous at night because other drivers ignored the speed limits. However, she instead just shut off her phone. Rachel could whine, and her father might send her an angry text of her own, but for once she didn't care.

Tonight was too good to end early.

Krista stuffed her phone into her pocket and walked back to the TV room. Her fingers itched for a controller, and she could only imagine how the next few rounds would go.