Violetta (Violet) Jackson has big dreams. None of which happen to include sitting in detention for a week straight for a lab disaster that wasn't even her fault. That's all thanks to Will Hawthorne, his friends (one of whom she unfortunately used to...
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It felt like half of the teenage population of Oak Point was at the lanes when we showed up on Saturday night.
By the time we stepped in at 9 pm, the bowling alley was in full swing: dark lanes lit up with colorful, flashing lights, the noise of chatter and laughter just barely heard above the music pumping through the speakers. Once we paid for our lane, we started to load up our rack with a bowling ball for each of us. Olivia started to enter our names into the machine, her fingers pressing at the screen.
"Really?" Danny asked as he glanced up at the screen, reading the names that she had just input: Hotcakes, Olive, Cinder Block.
Olivia grinned wickedly. "What's the point of bowling if you don't put a fake name in the machine?"
"Well, in that case, definitely put in 'Sunshine' for Violet," Will said over his shoulder as he tested a few different bowling balls on the racks behind our lane.
I made a face as Olivia obediently typed it in.
"What about for you, Will?" She asked.
Something Ethan once told me came to me in a flash. "Oh, I know. How about Space Cadet?"
Will stared at me, and I couldn't hold back my laugh from the surprised expression on his face.
It didn't take us more than one game to find out where everyone stood. Will and Ryder were the most competitive and the best of all of us, scoring over 150 points each game and the only ones getting the occasional strike. Danny, Olivia, and I were happy to settle for mediocrity, hanging around the 70 to 100 range for a few games before we retired for a bit, watching and cheering them on as they battled each other for victory.
"Come on, Ryder! Take him down!" Olivia called from the seats we were sitting around as Will and Ryder faced off one-on-one.
Ryder lined up his shot, bringing his hand back and throwing the bowling ball forward. It flashed, a streak of dark purple as it hit the pins at the end of the lane, sending all of them tumbling down. Olivia, Danny, and I cheered.
"And that," he said, as he pointed at Will. "Is how it's done."
"You make a strong argument," Will said as he lifted his bowling ball, his fingers finding the holes easily, "but I believe this is also how it's done."
He walked up to his lane, bringing his ball back and pausing for just a moment before he swung it in the air and let it go, letting it rocket down the lane, so fast that I barely have time to see it hit the middle pin and send the rest down within a second. Olivia cheered, and when Will turned around and locked eyes with me, I smiled. I wasn't going to try to hold any smile back tonight. I wasn't going to think about the battle of the bands or the final performance. I wasn't going to think about anything that could widen the hole buried deep in the pit of my stomach. Tonight, I wanted nothing more than to focus on what we had accomplished so far. And that, in itself, certainly merited celebration in my books.
