Two-Player Game

The New Kid

"C'mon! Gogogo! NO!" Flynn shrieked.

Before he knew it, Flynn heard a loud bang and a sudden shock went through his body. He tumbled forward, landing hard on his face into the ground. He shook his head and groaned through his clenched jaw. Flynn blinked a few times before his vision glitched for a second then a pixelated heart blinked rapidly in front of him before bursting into pieces.

"Aw fu-" Just before Flynn could say his final words, there was a loud boom and everything went black. Suddenly, bright neon words appeared out of the darkness.

GAME OVER

Try Again or End?

"Dude! Quit hogging the VR!"

    Flynn nearly jumped out of his seat the second he heard the person yell. Quickly whipping around, Flynn placed his hands on the sides of the helmet then pulled it off his head only to be face to face with a boy wearing a black muscle shirt with NSFW in fire print font plastered across his chest. Flynn gulped down hard as he stared up at the other teenage boy hovering over him.

Reggie was about the same age as Flynn but had the maturity of a 13-year-old. He had short dark blonde hair that was styled into a fohawk. Reggie was shorter than Flynn, who was 5'7. Flynn wouldn't be so intimidated by the guy if it weren't for his intense muscles. Reggie never wore shirts with sleeves because his biceps would tear them. The guy was so buff, he looked like a waxed version of Donkey Kong. Reggie clearly never stepped foot in a gym judging by his immense time spent at the arcade snack bar. When Reggie wasn't gaming he was drowning himself in blueberry flavored slushies and shoving cheap greasy pizza down his throat. The guy's muscular body was a phenomenon, either that or Reggie had a secret stash of steroids at home. Not only did Reggie eat trash, but he also smelt like it too. Reggie's manly musk smelt like leftover Chinese food and the town didn't own a single Chinese restaurant.

"R-Reggie..." Flynn's voice cracked, "Sorry bout that. I guess I got caught up in the game. See I've been stuck on level 9 and it's actually a lot harder than you thi-"

"Sh sh shhhhh!" Reggie hissed, pressing his index finger against Flynn's lips. "Dude. I don't give a monkey's ass about how much of a virgin you are. Just gimme the thing, kay?" Reggie spat out, holding his hand forward and motioning for Flynn to hand the VR set over.

Flynn sighed heavily, not even surprised by what had just happened. He gave Reggie the VR set then pushed himself off his seat. Walking past Reggie, Flynn decided to venture around the rest of the arcade. Maybe he could play a round of Pac-man and call it a day.

Flynn had messy brown hair that stuck up in all directions. He had dark brown eyes, pale skin and was rather lanky looking. Flynn didn't put much effort into the way he looked. His usual go-to outfits were a pair of jeans, converses and whatever shirt or hoodie that was available to him. Flynn didn't have a clique at school. He didn't fit in any group. The nerds were too gross, The Quiet kids were too quiet, The Popular kids were full of themselves, The Jocks were assholes, and The Band kids were too... Well, it was the band kids. They were busy spreading mono to each other. Plus nobody really noticed Flynn at school. He was the kid who always sat at the back of the classroom with headphones in. He was a nobody. Since Flynn is practically invisible at school, he decided to dominate the one place he did fit in. The arcade.

It was the only exciting place in their town. Greendale was the smallest town in Oregon. It was located in the middle of nowhere. Everything that surrounded the town were trees, grass, and wildlife. Before the arcade was built all the kids would sit on the curb and play punch buggy. Unfortunately, only one man owned a yellow buggy in town and was fully aware of the kids' game. He then decided to drive past where the kids usually hung out and waved hello to them while they beat each other black and blue before driving away with proud grin on his face. That wasn't the only violent game the children of Greendale played. There was another game called 'Mr. President', where one person would make eye contact with everyone else in the group and the last person to make eye contact with the rest would get tackled to the ground by everyone while they yelled, 'Get down Mr. President!'. This game sent six kids with broken limbs to the hospital. So one could say the arcade was built to help keep the children from killing each other. Nonetheless, the arcade ended up being a blessing sent from above. Flynn will never forget coming into the arcade when it first opened. Aisles of amazing retro game machines. A snack bar with a slushie machine located at the back of the arcade. Everyone, especially Flynn, was obsessed. It gave Flynn a place to be himself. The arcade became an addiction.The adrenaline of trying to reach the highest score before the timer went out. The high of earning a victory even though he was at half a life. Flynn could never get enough of it. The arcade was the most exciting thing in town. Some might see it sad that a teenage boy finds pride in beating a bunch of kids on some arcade game but to Flynn; it was pure ecstasy.