Gavin Free sat begrudgingly in front of the television, a plush beanbag chair engulfing his rump as he tried to settle in. He had just started staying with the Ramsey's as a foreign exchange students. Apparently, Geoff Ramsey was a distant cousin of him so it was better him then a stranger of no relation.
Well, so he thought.
An Xbox controller sat loosely in his hands as Geoff turned on a game he's only played about once. Call of Duty: Black Ops Zombies. Gavin fiddled with the headset attached to his head, adjusting the microphone until it seemed at a decent spot. Geoff helped him turn on multiplayer, but went into the other room straight after, leaving Gavin to fend for himself.
As soon as the waves began, he hear voices pinging against his ears.
"So who's all here? Team check."
A small speaker appeared next to the tag for MLPMichael, and soon other's started appearing.
"Well, I'm here." Spoke BrownMan seriously.
"I am also here." JackP said in a humourous voice.
"Hey, then we have everyone. Who else is on?" BM Vagabond questioned.
Gavin spoke hesitantly, a small speaker appearing next to his GavinoFree "Oh, I uhm.. I am."
"Oh Jesus, Ray. I thought you said it'd only be us! You got us stuck with a British twat." MLPMichael complained.
Gavin felt insulted and the game hasn't even begun.
"British twat? What are you talking about, you American wanker?"
The waves of Zombies began and Gavin fumbled at the controls.
"I set it to local, Michael. He must just live nearby." Brownman spoke before responding to Gavin. "And I'm Puerto Rican, thank you very much."
JackP gave a cough to clear his voice and to gain our attention before speaking through laughter. "Michael, Ray, be nice. If he lives nearby, he might just be new. What's your name GavinoFree?"
"Gavin." He mumbled into the mic as he began mashing buttons.
"Well Gavin, where are you? Clearly you aren't far." Brownman, or who he had assumed to be Ray, asked.
"I'm staying with Geoff Ramsey.. If that makes any sense to any of you."
Everyone seemed to fall silent; the only noise was zombie groans and gunfire.
"So /you're/ the exchange student." Michael said it more as a statement then a question, but Gavin still answered.
"I.. Yes. I am."
"God damnit." Ray grumbled. "I was hoping for a hot chick, or something along those lines."
Michael and Jack started to laugh, along with BM Vegabond.
"So, I uhm.. I've caught everyone's name but yours, Vegabond." Gavin kept glancing down at the buttons to make sure he was hitting the right ones.
"I'm Ryan. Pleasure to meet you, Gavin."
Gavin smiled slightly to himself as he nodded. "Pleasure to meet all of you."
Michael, Ray, Jack, and Ryan started chatting and laughing about wherever the conversation took them. Gavin would give his input every once in awhile, and they lasted quite a long time as wave after wave of zombies ambushed them.
Michael was the first to die.
"God dammit!" The sound of a controller hitting a table and the mic hitting something hard played in Gavin's headset. There was a stream of colourful curse words flowing from Michael while the others were laughing hard.
Ray was next.
"Oh.. Well shit, I'm dead." Ray jested.
A few moments later, it was only Ryan and Gavin. Jack had been killed quickly.
"Shit, looks like Gavin isn't too bad." Gavin could practically hear the smile in Michael's voice.
"Well, he has to do something besides drink tea and be all 'pip pip cheerio.'" Gavin chuckled at Ray's joke.
Soon it was just Gavin, and he managed to fend off a wave before being buried by a mountain of zombies and eaten alive. Gavin sat back with a heavy sigh.
The boys started murmuring things to each other. It sounded as if they had all removed their headsets and were talking in the same room. Soon the voices faded and Michael's voice returned.
"I hope we'll get to really meet, Gavin. You don't seem quite like the British twat I thought you were. Your accent is really.. Cute."
Gavin could tell Michael was fumbling for words. Was this an apology?
"Your forgiven, Michael." Gavin joked.
"Get off your high horse, Gavin. Anyways, when you get to school, we'll be waiting for you in study hall. It'll most likely be empty as always."
"I'll try my best to find it."
"Alright. See you then, Gav."
Gavin felt something flutter inside him but he ignored it for now.
"See you then, Michael."
Gavin couldn't help but smile.
