Bliss: The Awakening (On Hold)

Chapter 4: Malls to Revelations- Riley

It has only been five hours since I had that awful dream, but I swore there were shadows everywhere I turned, even on a foggy day. There wasn't school today because it was a teacher work day, but I had to walk to the mall because I didn't have a car to get there. Not that it was far away.

My phone buzzed in my pocket. I pull it out and see that it was a text from Vincent (How did he get his number in my phone anyway?).

Vince: You going to the mall?

I groan to myself.

Me: How did you know where I was going? Are you stalking me or what?

A moment passed before he replied.

Vince: No. Your friend Sara mentioned something about that while she was talking to me on the phone.

Me: She is soooooo dead...

Vince: Aw, don't do that. she was just trying to be nice.

Me: You don't know Sara like I do.

Vince: Alright drama queen. See you at the mall then. :)

Me: Wait, what? No!

Vince: Aha ;)

I put my phone back in my pocket and walk a little faster to my destination.

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Riley watched as the girl ahead of him put her phone back in her pocket with a little more force than usual. With the way she was moving and how fast she was walking, Alaina didn't seem to be in a good mood. 

"Well, her mother told me not to expect her in the best of moods today," he told himself quietly as he watched her from a certain distance. "So why go into the habit of catching her in one of her best moods?"

Alaina entered the mall at a quickened pace, as if she knew she was being followed.

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Scanning around the first floor of the mall, I spot Sara and Vincent talking to some of the popular kids from school. I groaned and went into the arcade, hoping to the gods that they didn't notice me at all. I know that I use to be friends with Kacey Jones at the end of last school year, but I didn't want him asking me twenty four questions like he always did when we don't talk for almost six months.

"Come on Pacman," I mumble to myself as I try to get the cherry for extra points without getting caught by the ghosts that kept chasing me around the complicated maze.

There was an older boy nearby playing one of the newer arcade games. I continued to play pacman, pretending not to be interested in the game of his when we all knew I was impressed by his modern game skills. How old was he, like eighteen?

"Most games can't handle the tension of its user for that many rounds," he said for the first time, catching me off guard.

"Says the modern gamer who doesn't seem intimidated by classic arcade games," I counter, beating my old highscore.

The boy laughs.

"Not at all," he replied. "But it seems like you've been here since you were just a little kid."

"Exactly," was my answer.

He turns away from the game to look at me.

"There seems to be another reason why you came here, wasn't there?"

I sigh, giving up my I'm-completely-calm, just-here-to-play-a-game routine.

"I'm avoiding some people at the moment so I don't have to run into old complications," I say honestly.

"Oh, I've been there, done that," he tells me. "But you don't have to run away from them. Just walk up to them, tell them how you feel, and heck, even ignore one or two of them if you want to. That's what I did."

I smile to myself. So maybe it isn't that hard after all?

"So maybe people aren't as complicated as I thought they were," I mumble, looking towards the entrance.

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Riley smiled, knowing that he was getting somewhere at this.

"Yeah, it's not as hard once you get through it the first time. Trust me. Once I did it, things were so much easier for me to get done."

"I hope it goes well for me," Alaina says, still eyeing the entrance.

"It should if you have the right modivation," Riley tells her.

"Alright," she replies. "Well, I guess I should go ahead and get this over with. See you around, Modern Gamer."

Riley laughs as Alaina heads out of the arcade.

"See you later, Gamer Girl!"

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I stand near the Pavilion and text Sara, hoping that she would get her head out of the clouds and notice that I was more important than trying to be popular.

Me: Oy, Sara.

Sara: Oh, Hey. Where you at?

Me. If you turn around, maybe you will finally notice me instead of being in the hazy cloud of yours?

I look up and wait to see if she would listen to me for once. Sara turns around and squints her eyes. When she spots me, she smiles and walks away from Vincent and the popular clique.

"Hey girl, where have you been?" Sara says as if she was worried about me the whole entire time.

"Well, I was in the arcade for fifteen minutes, and then I texted you to see if you were still alive and not turned into a zombie," I replied without becoming a zombie myself.

Sara seemed unaffected by my odd tone.

"Well, Vincent knows more about your past now, since Kacey was with the little group of party poopers over there," she tells me.

I groan. Great, more things he gets to torture me with.

"Can we go to the other side of the mall? At least so we can be as far away from Kacey and Vincent as possible." I plead.

"Sure, if you want to run up the escalators before you get caught up in a conversation," Sara replies, sticking her thumb in Vincent's direction, who was actually walking from the Pavilion and towards me.

Probably to ask me some questions about the stuff that Kacey and I use to do before I ditched him at the end of last school year.