| game of survival; it&st&tua

chapter OO2 - The Arcade

       "So what do you guys wanna do today?" Stanley walked over to the now extended group. Since last year, the party and losers had joined together and went out after school every thursday.

It was thursday today.

The rest shrugged and Richie said "The Arcade. I wanna see if that new kid's really madmax."
Dustin and Lucas perked up and nodded excitedly. The three had been the ones trying to beat the girl's score and failed everytime.

"We've been going there since summer." Eddie complained. "I wanna go watch movies in the basement."

"What's the fun in that?" Richie retorted.

While the two argued, Bill caught a glimpse of red hair in the corner of his eye. His heart fluttered as he spun around hoping to see her.

It wasn't Beverly.

The girl had moved in with her aunt since the news of her fathers death. He liked her, of course.
In the day of the oath, they kissed, and she left with a simple 'bye'.
What did that mean? The boy asked himself one too many times. It troubled him that maybe she didn't like him back, or met another guy, or-

"You okay?"

Bill snapped out of his thoughts to see Mike looking at him concernly.
"Y-yeah, just thinking." The boy said. Mike wasn't convinced as he raised an eyebrow.
Should I tell him? Well Eleven disappeared so he must know how I feel. The boy thought and was interrupted by a snap of Mike's fingers.

"You okay?" Mike repeated. "You seem confused and troubled and-"

"I miss Beverly." Bill said and immediately averted his gaze to his shoes, which were muddled with stains from the adventures in the sewers last year.
Mike sighed.
"Hey it's okay. I know how you feel." Mike smiled. Bill looked up and smirked.

"Yeah w-with Eleven."

Mike's eyes widened. "I don't like her!"

"Yeah s-sure. That's not what Richie s-said." Bill grinned and darted away as Mike raced towards his cousin.

----

          "I WON I WON! 1000 POINTS WOOT TAKE THAT MOTHER FUCKERS!" Richie yelled and basked in glory as he danced around infront of Dig Dug. Dustin and Lucas ran towards him excitedly. "Did you beat Madmax?" Dustin grinned.
The scoreboard appeared and they looked for 'Trashmouth' in the usernames.

#2 Trashmouth • 1000

"Well shit." Lucas frowned as he looked at who still had first place.

#1 Madmax • 1505

The boys sighed tiredly and glared at the screen till their eye veins popped. "I'm trying again." Richie said determinedly and grabbed a coin from his pocket. "You already tried 15 times today. How much cash is in your pockets?" Dustin frowned.

"When your parents don't mind you, they probably won't mind a few cents missing." Richie grinned mischievously as the other two exchanged glances. The boy's hands gripped the joystick tightly and the game started. His eyes focusing on the screen while his hands attacked the buttons.

A crowd started forming behind him as Richie was gaining points.
That crowd was joined by a particular redhead holding a skateboard. With one last push of a button, the game ended and the points were counted..

#1 Trashmouth • 1788

"1788 POINTS HOLY SHIT I DID IT!" Richie yelled as he jumped like a little kid. The three were squealing and hugging each other as the crowd was clapping. "TAKE THAT MADMAX." Richie raised his middle finger and grinned around. As he did, the crowd suddenly silenced awkwardly.
The glassed boy looked around and stopped when he saw who was infront of him.

There she was, arms crossed with a daring smirk on her face.

Madmax.

Richie's raised middle finger slowly lowered as he stared, practically gawking, at the girl.

This girl infront of him was #1 on all scoreboards of all the games.

This girl infront of him was the one he spent the entire summer beating at Dig Dug.

This girl was the one he finally beat in the charts.

In his eyes as he stared at her, she was actually really pretty upclose. And this is where the boy's heart was beating out of his chest.
"Uh...hi?" Max said, shaking her hand infront of the tranced boy.
Richie snapped out and shook his head. "Hi.."

"So you're the guy who finally beat my score on Dig Dug?" The girl raised an amused eyebrow.
"The one and only." Richie smirked, going back to his normal cocky self. Max raised an eyebrow and smiled. "I don't really care." She walked over to the game and slid a coin through the slot, starting the game.

The girl's hands moved effortlessly and her face was at ease as she played. The game ended faster than you can say 'yeehaw' and the score totalled.

#1 Madmax • 2009

Max grinned and turned back to see the three boys staring at the screen, looking like deflated balloons. "Nice try." The redhead walked over, patted Richie on the back, and walked away to the exit.
"Well that was a great 5 minutes of fame." Lucas muttered and looked at Richie.

The boy was dazed, looking at the exit where Max just left.
"Hey. You okay?" Dustin waved a hand on his face. It didn't move.

"I think I'm in love." Richie whispered in awe.

Author's Note.

guess who's planning to make this a trashmax book.
me
i shipped them since i saw Richie in the arcade lmao. ok bye

don't be mad at me for not doing lumax.
this is quite the filler but was really a nice short break for the characters from last year's events.

qotd: favorite ship in the book?

aotd:
trashmax.
holy hell will this be fun to write.