Those Strange People (A Mortals Meet Demigods Collection)

Bennett Neils

My friends and I were just taking a nice stroll around the mall.

And then Andre decided it was a good idea to flirt with a punk rocker girl wearing a silver crown inside of Hot Topic.

Turns out that was a bad idea.

Andre now is whimpering, with a couple broken fingers, black eyes, and painfully wounded dignity.

"Why did you think that was a good idea? Any punk rocker, even a frail little girl, could have beaten you to a pulp. Dude, I hoped you learned your lesson." One of my other two friends, Eric, scolding the simpering Andre.

I rolled my eyes. "Eric, knock it off. He's already been taken down many more notches than he needs to be."

Eric stopped and apologized to Andre, who was still too busy whimpering to acknowledge him.

"Come on, Nico, you have to try on at least one thing!" A girl, about thirteen or fourteen, was dragging another teen, who looked like he was 15, into the JCPenny's that my friends and I were walking by.

"Fine. FINE! I'll go try one thing on. And it will only be one thing." The struggling teen could be described either as a creepy emo kid, or a child who just enjoys to wear all black and skulls.

"Yay! Hazel, you're a miracle worker!" Another boy entered the picture. He had dark hair, like the emo kid, but when he glanced our way, his sea-green eyes glinted with mischief. He followed the girl and the all-black kid into the store.

••==••

After roaming the mall for a couple of hours, flirting with a couple of young shop clerks, Eric, Andre, Tim, and I decided to go play laser tag at a FunZone down the street from the mall. We all paid for unlimited games, and so far we've played three games, whupping everyone's butts, until we decided to get a quick rest.

Our next (and only) competitors seemed familiar. Three of them seemed like they could be siblings, with their matching, black untidy styles of hair, though one had a silver crown. She was the one that beat Andre's lights out, and the other two were the two boys we saw outside of JCPenny's. The darker-skinned girl that was with them was also there too, with a tall, blonde haired, blue-eyed boy.

Andre stared at the punker rock girl with fear, and started to cower behind Tim as I stepped up to introduce myself and my friends.

"Hi, I'm Bennett, and this is Eric, Tim, and Andre. We haven't lost a game yet, but if you're all brave enough to face us, good luck." I held out a hand.

The boy with bright sea-green eyes and the untidy black hair stepped foreword and shook my hand, smirking. "Thanks, man. Good luck to you too, since my cousins and I make a pretty good team. May the best laser tag team win."

"Tell your friend over there that if he flirts with me again, I won't hesitate to beat his living day lights out." The punk chuck commented.

Andre ducked lower behind Tim.

I smiled. "I look forward to beating you."

The little emo kid saluted to me. "And us you." He then dived into the laser tag terrain after the darker-skinned girl and his friends.

"5, 4, 3, 2, 1, go!" The attendant yelled as my friends and I barreled into the terrain. I felt the buzz of my vest power up, and my gun beeped to let me know it was ready.

My friends and I choose our corner, and got ready to defend.

Eric's vest shut off temporarily as soon as the game started.

"Oh, come on!" He exclaimed, impatiently waiting five seconds for it to power up again.

I saw a flash of green, the other team's best color. I aimed and fired, smirking as I saw it power down.

"Yes--no. You've got to be kidding me." My vest buzzed, signaling that I had been shot.

Crap. They're better than I thought.

The rest of the game continued on like that,  when one of my buddies or I would think that we got someone, when moments later, our vests shut down.

Tim, Andre, Eric, and I all exited the course, dripping buckets of sweat from the difficult game of laser tag. The opposing team of five exited after us, laughing and joking with one another. The goth-like boy smirked at the four of us, chugging bottles of water that Tim had brought along. His green-eyed friend came over and shook our hands. 

"Bennett, right? I'm Percy. Thanks for sticking in the game with my cousins and me. Most people leave as soon as their vest gets turned off for the millionth time."

I shrugged. "It was time our egos got taken down a few. Can't be too big-headed, can't we?"

Percy chuckled. "Well it was nice playing against you guys. Maybe, if you want, we can do a rematch."

"I'd like that. See you 'round, man." I clapped him on the shoulder, and Percy and his group left, acting like a giant, happy family.

"Did I hear the word rematch?" Eric asked. 

I nodded. "Whenever I manage to get in touch with that Percy person. I have a feeling he'll show up sooner or later."

My buddies and I walked outside, got into Tim's truck, and headed over to Andre's house for the rest of the day.

..==..

And that is how I met that strange person, Percy, and his cousins.