We kept talking for a few more hours, until my eyelids were drooping and I was half asleep. Dakota drifted off before I did, falling back on my bed. A few minutes later, I did too.

My mind reawakened late in the morning, and the first thing I saw when I reopened my eyes was Dakota's face, three inches away from my own. He was sprawled out, half on me. I pried his arm off of my neck, scrambling away, but apparently he was a light sleeper.

"Whaa..? But it's too early to get up, Liam," he half-said, half-mumbled, reaching up and rubbing his eyes. After checking if Terra was in bed (she wasn't, luckily for me) I sat down, smiling at how cute Dakota was when he was tired.

"Awake yet?" I asked, and his eyelids shot open.

"Lindy? What are you doing in..." He sat up and looked around. "Oh. Sorry for stealing your bed." I shrugged.

"Well, we were tired. Happy Saturday!"

Dakota blinked. "It's Saturday?" I nodded, slowly.

"There's a reason we weren't woken up by the bell-" I checked the clock- "half and hour ago." A smile spread across his face.

"Finally, a day we don't actually have to do work but get to be away from parents and all that! Hasn't happened to me since grade four. Five years can be a long time."

"Want to go see if Contri's awake? Maybe we can play a game." His face fell for a second, but I didn't ask. Although I was very tempted to. He agreed, and we walked over to the next room. I knocked on the door, and Emerald opened it.

"What do you want?" she said. It was barely a question.

"Is Contri here?" Dakota asked. Emerald opened to door and flung her arm out.

"See for yourself." Contri was sitting on her bed. Reading, as usual. Did she ever take a break from books?

I walked in, making sure not to touch Emerald (who slammed the door in Dakota's face a second later and went back to sitting on her bed) and sat down next to my friend. She looked up at me, and I grabbed her hand and dragged her out the door, which Dakota'd reopened, not even saying a word. I looked back over my shoulder to see Sam hop out of the bathroom. The thought of inviting her crossed my mind, but I brushed it off.

Contri didn't protest.

We went back over to my room and sat down. Terra still wasn't back, which led me to believe that she had stayed the night (and actually slept for once) in the Third Floor, probably with Jacques.

"What did you guys want to do?" Contri asked, bringing my mind out from the depths of Thinking Land. A deadly place if you know it well.

I looked over to Dakota. "Play a game?" I suggested. "Do friend-y stuff?"

"I'm good with the first option," he said. "Did you bring anything?"

"There's a deck of cards in my suitcase. That good with you guys?" They nodded, and Contri leaned down to pull it out from under my bed. I remembered that the rock was in there too late.

She held up a sock, wrapped in an elastic band and about the same size and weight as a rock. She may have not known about the 'stolen' (what was Mr. Hart up to anyways) rock. But Dakota did, and he could accidentally mention it.

"Don't-" I leaned out to grab it, but Contri pulled away and unwrapped it. She held up the rock in her hand.

"Why do you have your dad's old rock wrapped in a sock?" she asked, and I remembered that she was the one who had found it when I'd lost it, and the one I'd told was my dad's.

"Um, security. It's special to me, I wouldn't want anyone stealing it."

"Is there any particular reason why they would want to steal this rock?" Dakota asked, obviously suspicious.

"No," I confirmed in what I hoped was a convincing voice. "But just in case. Here, let me find the cards."

Contri rewrapped the sock (I would need a new hiding spot later) and I pulled out a deck of cards.

Minus all the hearts. I'd grabbed the wrong deck. Instead of the good one, I'd taken the one mom used for solitaire when she wanted to make it quicker.

I guessed we'd have to pick a game that didn't require four suits.