Lucky for both Hope and Jamie, Laurie also had spent the entire day in the room with Hope. While Laurie was still paranoid about spending too much time with anyone, Laurie really liked Hope, and thus was finding herself able to spend more and more time face-to-face with her roommate and friend. The additional bonus of wanting to play with her xbox 360 had kept Laurie in the room all day, especially now that she had people to play Halo with- she needed to practice so she wouldn't be the weakest link!
Even Laurie had to take a break sometime, and she had been in the process of shutting down her xbox so she could play a bit of Guild Wars before returning to her new game, when Hope mentioned an assembly. "A... a what... oh, I guess... I didn't hear about that..." Laurie hadn't been on her computer much since getting her new toy, and she definitely hadn't checked her e-mail, so Laurie thought it likely that she had missed the notice. And while mature, Laurie was still just fifteen- and only by a day at that- and easily accepted the lie. Especially if they were already running late! "Oh, okay, um, just a moment." Laurie ran a brush through her hair quickly and grabbed her strawberry-flavored Lipsmackers, glad she had showered and dressed before going to get lunch.
"Okay, I'm ready." Laurie followed Hope down the hallway, wondering what the assembly was on. Walking quickly, afraid of being late, Laurie asked, "Did... he say what the assembly is on? Is it something about training?" Laurie hoped that nothing was wrong- almost as much as she hoped that summer training sessions were about to be canceled for the rest of the summer. Reaching the doors to the auditorium, Laurie noticed the lack of students in the area for the first time and asked as she opened the doors, "Hey, Hope? Are you sure about the time? It seems kind of... empty..."