Maze

20

With numerous directions from our friends and I, Aly made her way here safely.

Tramping towards us, she outright collapsed right onto the bench. Her eyes were deadly pale and brimming with tears, while her expression was as white as paper. Most of us all had our arms crossed as we stared down on her, as if we were some juries on court judging every inch of her actions.

She looked like she wandered through oceans and mountains just to get here—well, she did technically traverse through the mountains. Throwing out a silent breath, I decided to sit next to her and massaging her rather hunched back.

"Rena..." she whined.

"I told you so many times to have Rena pick you up!" Naomi berated. "You know your sense of direction is non-existent, right?!"

"Whoa now, that's cruel..." Mark butted in.

"But it's true! Every time she tries to get out alone, she messes up and is in places she shouldn't be. Geez!" She huffed, ruffling through her hair as Sam and Adelynn—who have already arrived with Seb—could helplessly laugh. "It's been happening millions of times but she never understands!"

Even Aly's smile was distorted as she staggered getting back on her feet. "Let's just go to the arcade and forget everything that happened..." she croaked as she trudged away into the mall lobby.

"Still the same ol' Alyssa I see," Seb jeered and stepped forward, a smirk spreading across his face. "How did you manage to make it to school or home, it's a mystery even the best detectives may never solve."

Aly's cheeks were crimson red. "The real mystery here is how you never shut your annoying ass mouth," she retorted as she shook her fist. "I can solve it for you."

"Empty threats ain't it, my friend."

"Out of all things I despise in this world... it's being called your friend." And not even a second later, Aly had bounced back to herself as she exchanged jabbing remarks with Seb. I guess... that works?

"You're in luck, the feeling's mutual."

"It has been years, and you two never stopped arguing for heaven's sake..." Adelynn groaned and placed her hand on her face as she shook her head, while Mark and the girls flocked together and giggled at their new form of entertainment. Pretty amusing, but all the bickering gets old fast...

Once I invited Edward and the gang to our group, I was already anticipating incessant quarrels, but that was the only downside of this hangout. While the rest were so occupied with each other, Edward and I were left to ourselves—in fact, he had been walking beside me all this time.

This was perfect.

"W-What do you wanna play?" I asked.

"I'm fine with whatever," he answered, "But I'm kinda good with claw games."

Kinda? Did he not remember back then, he nearly wiped out the entire claw machine and brought home a huge bag of plushies? Kinda is really not the word to describe your skills...

"Well, y-you've always been good with them," I sorted up. "Well... l-let's play that as soon as we get there."

"Sure," he agreed.

Unfortunately, the claw machines weren't the others' first choice as we entered the vast arcade. Like every other game centers we have been to, lights from the game machines scintillated all over my vision, accompanied by a succession of bombastic music more upbeat than Jordan's playlists.

In a heartbeat, Naomi and Samantha marched towards the air hockey before anyone else could. Since the last time they played, their points tied, so they planned on settling in their scores once and for all. Last time they had begged Aly for more tokens, but she snatched their arms and dragged them out because somehow, she had been hearing my stomach growl.