We Come Alive

Video Games

Wednesday afternoon, all of the cheerleaders were in the gym decorating posters for the car wash and the booths for the carnival.

Jessica, Mila, and Alyssa were coloring the bubble letters on a poster together as they talked.

"So," Jessica begun, "I saw you and Jacob flirting the other day. How's that going for you, Mila?"

Mila shook her head with a laugh. "No, it's not like that. We're just friends. I barely know him. We're only friends. I talked to him on occasions and he will say hi to me in the hall. It's nothing serious." Mila blushed as she hid her face from them with her hair.

The two girls laughed as they kept coloring. When the finished the poster, they got a new blank one and started to draw the jaguar logo and write where the car wash will be and to come.

Mila looked up and Alyssa and smiled softly. "What do you and Ricky always talk about? You two are hanging out often or have little conversations. For the excuse of barely knowing each other, you two have a lot of conversations."

Alyssa shook her head with a small frown. "No, it's just me complimenting him on his hair or his shirt or his football skills."

Jessica gasped. "Oh! You like Ricky's hair? You like that longer hair of his. His hair looks a bit like Heath Ledger's when he was in that movie. What was it called?" Jessica put her finger to her chin as she thought for a moment before gasping when she thought of it. "Oh! 10 Things I Hate About You. That's what he looks like."

Alyssa laughed. "Whatever. Me and him aren't anything. Weren't not even friends. I barely know him."

"Whatever you say." Mila mumbled as she rolled her eyes.

~**~

Jose and Jacob were walking down the street, when they saw two boys walking towards them. Jose recognized one of the boys as Ryan, the boy who always wanted to be on the football team. Next to him, Jose recognize the other boy as Ryan's younger brother, but also identical twin, Riley.

"Oh shit." Jose sighed. Jacob looked at him confused.

"What?" Jacob asked. "What's wrong?"

Jose nodded his head to in front of them. Jacob looked up to the twins and saw Ryan's face light up when he noticed them.

"Hey, Jose! Hi, Jacob. How's it going?" Ryan greeted.

Jose gave him a fake smile. "We're super busy right now. We have to go meet some friends and we're running late."

Jose tried to pull Jacob away but Jacob pulled his arm out Jose's grip and looked at the twins.

"Hey." Jacob smiled. "What's your guys' names?" 

Jose sighed heavily as he stood behind the twins. Ryan waved at Jacob. "I'm Ryan. Hopefully one of these days I'll be on the football team. This is my little brother Riley."

Riley rolled his eyes. "By three minutes. I'm Riley Walker." He said as he waved to Jacob. "Nice to meet'cha."

Jacob waved to the two. "Ditto." He looked over their shoulders to see Jose motioning for them to go. Jacob chuckled. "We gotta go. But nice meeting you two."

Ryan smiled as he waved. Jacob walked along with Jose down the sidewalk. Once they were out of ear shot, Jose let out a groan as he glared to Jacob.

"What the hell is wrong with you?" Jose sighed. "I had the perfect excuse for us to leave and be fine. But no! Mr. Nice guy here has to greet everyone he meets and have a conversation."

Jacob laughed. "It's the nice thing to do."

Jose shook his head. "It's the annoying thing."

The two boys continued down the sidewalk until they got to Jacob's house where they were going to hang out for the rest of the afternoon.

When the two walked in, they saw Jacob's sister Melanie sitting on the couch watching tv with a blanket around her.

"Jose, that's my sister Melanie. Melanie, this is my friend Jose." Jacob said as he pointed to the both of them.

Jose waved to the girl. "Hey, Melanie. I've heard a lot about you."

Melanie waved back. "Hi, Jose. Jacob never talks about his friends other than clov-"

"Okay!" Jacob interrupted her. "Follow me upstairs."

Jose shook his head as he turned his attention back to Melanie. "Who does he talk about, Melanie?"

Melanie laughed as she saw Jacob turning bright red as he grew embarrassed. "He talks about someone named Clover. Like a four leaf one. Said she's really pretty and I think he likes her."

Jose bursted out laughing as he held onto his stomach. He looked at Jacob who was mortified. "Okay. That's enough of talking to the family pet. Let's go upstairs."

Melanie rolled her eyes as she turned her attention back to the tv. A laughing Jose followed Jacob upstairs to his bedroom. When they walked in, they saw Jacob had finally unpacked his stuff and hard his room semi-neat.

His bed wasn't made, but he had two pillows on it with a blue blanket. He had a book shelf full of pictures and trophies from different sports. Next to the bookshelf in front of the window was a desk with his bookbag in the chair and his homework all over the top of the desk. Across from the bed was a tv with a white Xbox on the floor with three controllers.

Jacob sat on the bed while Jose threw his bookbag on the floor and sat at the desk. Jacob handed Jose a controller while he turned on the tv and turned the Xbox on.

"So...," Jose sighed. "You trying to get with clove?"

Jacob sighed. "Let's not talk about that. You going to the car wash and carnival?"

Jose nodded as he leaned back onto the back two legs of the desk chair. "Have to. Don't show up Mateo won't be happy. Do you have friends over often?"

Jacob shook his head. "Nah. My mom gets all freaked out when I do though. So when she comes home and sees you, it'll be like you're the first ever form of human she's seen."

Jose chuckled as the two begun to play their video game. "Wow. My mom isn't the same. You come over, you're staying for dinner and you're taking home leftovers. Even if you show up to my house before dinner she'll yell at me and say, Jose! Who is that at the door?! Invite them inside! Ask if they want dinner?! Jose! Be a nice host! She's crazy." He sighed.

Jacob chuckled. "Good to know. If I ever need a good meal I know where to go than."

"Well, they all speak Spanish so I'll have to translate for you. Well, when they see you're white, they'll speak English. But they love the gang. Any of them come over, it's like they're part of the family. Especially Stephen. My mom likes to sometimes feed him until he's ready to burst. It's almost like a game. How many tacos can Stephen eat before he passes out."

Jacob smirked as he beat Jose in the first round of their game. "Ha ha! While you joke about your mom playing games, you should learn how to play these."

Jose ignored him as he focused more on the game than them talking to one another.