Epilogue: Embracing New Horizons

Friday Night. Time for Boffer Club! The chilly air of early winter made Carly shiver; they only had a few more weeks before break. Attendance had declined recently, and now they were lucky to reach double digits.

But she held onto hope and dutifully showed up every week regardless.

Carly brightened when she saw Mary walk onto the field, and looked hopefully past her for any sign of her roommate. But judging by the glum look on her face, Sam was giving today a “miss” again.

She smiled anyway and skipped over to the girl. “Hey, Mary! Glad you could make it!”

“Yeah,” Mary smiled a little.

“No Sam today?”

“Hm-mm…” she shook her head.

“Well, at least she’s doing better, right?” Carly tried to mask her disappointment with cheer, but it was hard.

It had been a little over a month since they’d helped Sam work through her problems with archery, and Carly had been hoping that she’d return to Boffer Club after. But no such luck.

Boffer Club was apparently no longer a priority for her.

“Sammy didn’t come today again?” Cain asked, walking over to the girls with a relaxed grin.

Carly scowled. “It’s all your fault!” She hit him in the arm with her sword. “Because you keep calling her that, and being a big jerk!”

“Hey, don’t blame me!” He protested. “Come on Sammy said it herself, right? She likes Boffer Club, sure, but she also likes archery. And now that she’s not hung up about her shoulder anymore, I guess she decided that she didn’t want to come back.”

Carly’s face fell.

“The school has an archery team you know,” he continued. “If I had to guess, she probably signed up for that. I’ve seen her practicing at the range every now and then.”

“She goes out with her bow every night,” Mary confirmed with a sad nod. “I’m happy that she’s so happy, but still…”

“This stuff happens, Carly, you know that,” Cain shrugged. “People move on. She probably forgot all about us to go hang out with her new friends.”

Cain was right, people came and went from Boffer Club all the time, especially freshmen. Mary, Daniel, and Shannon were practically the only first-years who still regularly came.

Carly glanced down. That didn’t mean she had to like it.

“Besides, archery probably has a lot of good memories for her. If she had to choose between archery and boffer, it only makes sense that she’d-“

FWIP!

“Hey!” Something soft hit Cain in the back. He whirled around to see who’d snuck up behind him, but couldn’t see anybody.

FWIP!

Something came flying out of the darkness, hitting him in the chest. He glanced down, expecting to see a throwing knife, and had to do a double-take.

It was a long wooden arrow. The tip was wide like the foot of a table and wrapped in tape and foam, about the size of a golf ball. His head snapped forward.

Across the field, standing in the bleachers with bow in hand was Sam.

“Sam?! What?!” Mary gasped in disbelief. Sam gave an exaggerated bow in response.

“That’s just… huh?!” Cain couldn’t believe what he was seeing. Before he could get another word out, Sam smoothly drew another arrow from her quiver and hit him in the stomach.

Carly screamed. There were stars in her eyes.

“A BOW?! A BOW! YOU MADE A BOFFER BOW!!!” She ran across the grass and practically tackled Sam. Mary followed quickly after, as did the rest of the club. In seconds Sam was the center of the attention.

“It, a… you said that any projectiles had to be medieval,” Sam blushed, scratching her head sheepishly. “So, uh… I asked Nick if it was okay, and he said he could make me some arrows… b-but, if it’s not, I still have Black Rose, too, so-”

“THAT’S AMAZING! STUPENDOUS! TERRIFIC! AMASTUPENDERRIFIC!” Carly was over the moon. “This is gonna be so much fun! Dude! Dude, dude, dude, I’ve got, like, a bajillion ideas! Okay, so like, king of the hill! You with your bow, and the rest of us try to capture the flag, or maybe-“

“Calm down. Breathe.” Mike gently shook some sense back into Carly. “You’re about to have an aneurism.”

“IT’S A BOFFER BOW MICHAEL! I CAN BE EXCITED!”

She stopped to catch her breath. Then she turned to Nick. “Hey! You were making arrows for her all the time, and you didn’t say anything?! I was worried you know! I thought she’d really quit!”

He fended off her sword and laughed. “We thought it would work better as a surprise. Plus I didn’t want to get anyone’s hopes up in case I couldn’t do it. But it’s some of my best work.”

Mary beamed up at Sam as she hopped down to join the others.

“I’m glad you decided to stay.” She couldn’t help herself, pulling Sam into a hug. This time though, the other girl didn’t mind. She even hugged back.

“Also, um…” Sam pulled away from Mary and looked sheepishly at the others. She lowered her head. “I’m really, really sorry. I know I’ve been a huge pain this whole time… and it’s totally okay if you guys don’t want me back, but… I really, really want to make up for all the shitty stuff I’ve done, okay? I’m so sorry.”

Mike shrugged. “Hey, it’s whatever. I appreciate the apology. I’m just glad we don’t have to worry about any more screaming.”

“WHO CARES ABOUT THAT STUFF?! YOU MADE A BOW!”

“…With one exception, anyway…”

“I’m with Carly, this is going to be a ton of fun,” Andy nodded, her eyes shining eagerly. “’Sides, I don’t care about a little bitchiness.”

“Yeah, it’s a good thing you’re feeling better. Andrea’s attitude is bad enough, we don’t need more of it,” Jamie piped up, earning her a lethal stare from the goth.

Mary ignored that, smiling at Sam. She nodded. “Yeah, I agree. Let’s start over.”

“Uh-huh…” Sam said, her eyes watering. She squeezed her bow a little tighter. It felt so right.

“Okay!” Carly shouted. “Quick! New game! Everyone, come up with as many fun ideas for Sam and her bow as you can think of! We’ve got all night, people! Chop-chop!” She clapped her hands together and everyone started talking at once.

A bright smile spread across Sam’s face. Yeah… she really did miss this. It had been a rough first semester, and she’d been even rougher. But it felt like she’d finally found something to get excited about.