Bright: DEH/BMC Fanfic

Chapter 5

Jeremy strode over to a seat next to Zoe and sat down clumsily. "Hey," he muttered as he swung his backpack onto the back of his chair.

"Hey," Zoe said, shocked. This was the first time they'd spoken to each other since FatJacks.

Jeremy noticed her binder and took out his own. The front of his had a picture of a video game called "Apocalypse of the Damned" in the slip. It was in black and white and had two buff men slaying zombies. Zoe recognized the cover from countless adds on TV.

There was also a sticker on the top right of the cover. It had two animated faces on it and big bold letters saying "Two Players, One Game." The faces looked surprisingly like Jeremy and Michael's.

Jeremy caught her staring, "Michael and I have a YouTube gaming channel called "TwoPlayersOneGame." He pointed to the sticker. "That's why I have this. We sell them to make some money."

Zoe nodded, but before she could say anything, the teacher stood up to face the classroom. He was a heavier man that was losing his hairline. He wore a blue vest that was much too tight for him and slacks that were covered in ketchup stains.

"Welcome class," the man pointed to a name on the white bored, "I'm Mr. Jackson. Related to the best president the United States has ever seen, Andrew Jackson."

Zoe crinkled her nose in disgust at hearing the name Andrew Jackson. She looked around the room and noticed many pictures of the president on the walls. He seemed to be glaring down at her.

"In this class, we will be discussing American History. Each Friday you will have a quiz and at the end of each six-week grading period, you will be given a test and a project to complete. Now, let's spend the rest of this period going over the syllabus." The class groaned in protest.

Zoe leaned over to Jeremy and whispered, "So, what games do you play for your channel?" He looked sideways at her, surprised. "He probably isn't used to girls actually being interested," Zoe thought.

"Mostly 'Apocalypse of the Damned'," he said, "but sometimes we live stream other games."

"People don't get bored watching that game?"

Jeremy chuckled, "Haha, no. I mean, I don't think so. We have about 100,000 subscribers right now, and we started our channel only two months ago."

"Dang." Zoe grinned slightly, "That's impressive."

Jeremy looked back at his binder, "Yeah, well, sometimes we add mods to the game too. To keep people interested, you know?"

"No," Zoe said honestly, "I don't know. What are mods?"

Jeremy looked at her, surprised, again. "Well, um," he paused to try to think of the best way to explain it, "like, they modify the game. They allow you to change the whole game experience."

Zoe tilted her head, still not fully understanding.

Jeremy scratched his head with thought, "Okay, so there's one mod for the game that changes the world into Candy Land. So like, you'll be killing zombies and all of a sudden, BAM, you're in Gumdrop Mountains!"

"Wow," Zoe said, "that would ruin my childhood."

Jeremy laughed and then faced the front of the classroom. "Yeah, well, it's pretty fun." He turned back towards Zoe, "If you ever want to try it out, you're free to come over anytime."

"Jeremy Heere," she said, smiling, "are you inviting me to play video games with you?"

"Me and Michael," he said quickly and returned the smile. 

Zoe stared into his gaze for a few moments before responding. "Sure, that sounds like fun."

"Cool," Jeremy stood up and put his backpack on. Apparently the bell had rung, signaling for class to end. They were so lost in conversation that they didn't even listen to Mr. Jackson speak. Jeremy headed towards the door, "See you at lunch."

"Yeah." Zoe was still watching him, "See ya." He left the room.