Directioners

The Visit to Game Stop

Today, I’m going over to Phoenix’s house. She lives quite a ways away, but it is always worth seeing my friend. We do everything together, and the only thing that separates us is the fact that she lives forty-five minutes away. Thankfully, that is easily resolved.

My parents and I pull in the driveway, and then they left. I go to the door and open it, strolling into a hallway. I meet another door and knock.

“Who is it?” someone says from the other side of the wooden wall.

“Louis Tomlinson!” I joked. “Open up girl, it’s me, Arizona!”

I hear a crash, a meow and a bang before the door opens. I look down to see Phoenix on the floor, laughing as her cat, Florida, jumps on her.

“What happened?” I asked, stepping over her.

“I was in the other room, and I knew it was you,” Phoenix explained. “I got distracted by a commercial about Nintendo D.S. games on sale at Game Stop, when I tripped over the cat. Then, I attacked the wall, and the floor hates me.”

“You got that from google didn’t you?” I asked as I set my sleeping bag down.

“iFunny.” she said. “Do you want to go to Game Stop for the great deals? The bus should be by any second, and it’ll only take ten minutes.”

I nodded my head and she jumped as high as she could. Phoenix ran upstairs to grab her One Direction themed purse, while I dug mine out of my backpack. We dug in a drawer to find some bus tokens.

Outside, it was freezing, literally! When the bus finally arrived, Phoenix and I were huddled like penguins in a winter storm. We boarded the bus and sat in the very back. What we hated most, was getting stared at from people behind us.

“It’s cold out isn’t it?” a man asked a couple seats ahead of us.

“No perfectly warm.” Phoenix answered sarcastically.

From that point on, we didn’t speak to each other or anyone else until we got off the bus. The pressure was lifted off our shoulders as we entered the store. In the far right corner sat the D.S. section. We ventured over there, skimming the other shelves.

Phoenix suddenly stopped dead in her tracks. “Oh my,” she exclaimed. “It’s so beautiful.”

I backed up to see what she was staring at. She was right, it was beautiful. On the top shelf of the Wii section, sat a One Direction game.

She reached up and grabbed it, reading the description on the back out loud. “‘You can play as Louis, Harry, Niall, Liam, or Zayn on this miraculous adventure. You will battle the evil Kevin the Pigeon and try to find the rest of the band. Only your music can defeat the great bird.’”

Phoenix put the game back on the shelf. “How could they do that to Kevin?” she whined. “The beautiful bird had so much to live for! Why? Why?”

Everyone in the room stared at her. I ducked my head, hoping their gazes wouldn’t fall upon me. A few seconds after the staring contest, I looked back up. These five boys in the opposite corner caught my eyes.

Phoenix and I headed over to the D.S. games. Scanning through them, I found another One Direction game. Actually, I found two.

“Hey, check it out.” I said.

“Is it that Kevin game?” Phoenix asked, turning her back towards me.

“No. Not even close.” I laughed. “I’ll read the back. ‘In this wonderful adventure, beware of spoons, collect as many carrots as possible, and survive the life of a musician. Along the way, you will meet Kevin the Pigeon, the greatest bird of all. Find him in the park to make all your wishes come true.’ Isn’t this a cool game? Plus, there are two games left. Shall we?”

“We shall.” Phoenix said as she ripped the games from my hands and ran to the register. “In fact, I shall.”

“Come back here!” I shouted after her. To my thanks, there was a small line at the counter.

One of the boys ran ahead of me and snatched one of the games from Phoenix.

“Hey give that back!” she yelled as he ran back to me.

“Here you go.” the boy said as he returned the game to me.

I looked up at him. He was wearing a gray hoodie, with the hood covering his head. The boy was also wearing navy blue sunglasses and denim jeans. He was about ix inches taller than me. His sneakers were white and so were his socks.

“Thanks.” I said, blushing dramatically and looking at the ground.

Phoenix came over and joined us. “Not cool dude.” she said to him. Then she turned her attention back to me. She asked in a whisper, “Do you know him?”

I shook my head. When I looked back up, the boy had rejoined his friends. We went to the register and paid for our games. When Phoenix and I were heading out, the boy came up behind me.

I turned to see him with his buddies. “Hey.” I greeted shyly.

“Hey.” he repeated. “I was wondering if you were planning to go to the One Direction concert tomorrow.”

I shook my head sadly. “I didn’t even know about it.” I glared at Phoenix who was rolling her eyes and looking at the ceiling.

The boy dug in his pocket and handed me two tickets. “Here, take these.” he said as he dropped them in my hand.

Before I could respond, they were out the door. One stalled and looked Phoenix over before running after the rest of the gang.

“So,” Phoenix said, twirling her hair between her fingers. “What was that about?”

I shrugged and looked at my hand. The tickets were beautiful, with a golden glisten. When Phoenix and I boarded the bus to go home, I continued observing the slips of paper.

“Oh my god.” I exclaimed.

“What?” Phoenix asked eagerly. “What is it?”

I showed her the tickets. “The reason why they’re gold is that they’re backstage passes.”

She looked at me in disbelief. “Are you serious?”

The bus stopped at her street and we got off. While we walked back to Phoenix’s house, the two of us continued talking about the tickets.

When we entered Phoenix’s house, her phone was ringing. Florida batted it across the table, hoping it would be quiet. Phoenix set her phone to the ringtone, What Makes You Beautiful by One Direction.

Pushing Florida to the side, she picked up the phone. “Hello?” she answered.

When she turned the phone to speaker, I heard a young male voice say, “Hey, it’s me. We sort of met at Game Stop. I was with my friend Luke, who talked to Arizona, I think.”

“Oh, okay.” Phoenix replied, obviously remembering him.

“And by the way, Luke wants to know if your friend has a phone.”

“Yes, she does. Does he want her number?”

“Hello?!” I asked very annoyed. “My phone number!”

“Am I on speaker?” the boy asked.

“Yup. Her number is ***-****”

This conversation between the three of us continued for a while. The boy’s name was Nathan.