Friday after school, Megan found herself at the mall with her friends again. Danielle was really excited about getting more outfits for Megan, and they'd already been in two stores. It hadn't been easy, but Megan had managed to get out of buying two shirts, a skirt and a neon green scarf that Danielle was somehow incredibly fond of. She never would have thought there'd come a point where she'd actually go to the mall more than once a month. At least, not to any of the clothes stores. But that's where her friends seemed to like to go, so Megan didn't argue.
She glanced at the arcade as they walked by, silently wishing she had the nerve to say something. She sighed to herself, trying to contain her disappointment. Well, if nothing else, maybe Ben would go with her this weekend. It'd be nice to hang out with him again anyway – her life had been incredibly weird lately, and she kind of missed how things used to be.
"What're you looking at?" Stacey asked, staring past Megan's shoulder to follow her line of sight.
"What?" Megan jerked away, looking quickly in the opposite direction from the arcade. "Oh, nothing." she shrugged, hopping she'd succeeded in looking casual.
"You ever been in there?" Stacey asked, nodding towards the arcade. Obviously, Megan hadn't done as well as she'd hoped.
"Not in a long time." Megan said slowly. A week and a half was a long time, right?
"I can't believe we used to go there every weekend." Danielle rolled her eyes. "It was so stupid."
"Really?" Megan asked.
She didn't know if she was more surprised that her friends used to come here or disappointed that they'd think it was stupid. Well, she already knew they probably didn't like it; she was just kind of disappointed to hear it out loud.
"It was only stupid 'cause I beat you every time." Stacey cut in, grinning impishly.
"You wish." Danielle rolled her eyes. "I let you win."
"Yeah, you're so kind like that."
"Thanks – glad you noticed." Danielle beamed like Stacey had actually paid her a compliment. But her eyes were shining in a way that said she knew better.
"I beat you and you know it." Stacey told her. "And I could do it again easy."
"Prove it." Danielle told her, refusing to budge.
"Yeah?"
"Yeah – right now. Let's go."
The two headed towards the arcade and Megan followed close on their heels. She couldn't believe that they used to come here – they must have been pretty little. Megan didn't remember seeing either of them since she started high school. Stacey and Danielle headed to the racing games, but Megan went straight to the air hockey.
"You any good?" Tara asked from behind her. Megan turned around; she hadn't even realized that everyone else had followed them in.
"I'm not bad."
Tara put her money in the machine, and Megan heard the whir of air pushing its way through the table.
"Ready?" Tara asked, pulling the puck out of the slat on her side of the table.
"Ready." Megan grinned, leaning down in anticipation.
Tara was actually pretty good, which annoyed Megan more than she wanted to admit. She didn't want to completely crush her friend, but she did think she deserved to win. After all, Megan had played this game almost every week for the last three years. When was the last time Tara had ever played?
Tara liked to bounce the puck all over the table, making it a little hard for Megan to follow. Still, Megan managed to block everything Tara shot at her. She launched the puck as fast as she could across the table towards Tara. It missed and bounced back – straight into Megan's goal. Megan heard the loud clunk as the puck fell down the chute.
"Thanks." Tara grinned. "You're going to make this easy!"
"Don't worry – I won't do that again." Megan told her.
The next point was Megan's. And the one after that. But Tara did manage to put up a good fight. Actually, she might even be better at this game than Ben. But he always liked shooter games more anyway.
Finally, the score was 5-6; Megan only needed one more point to win. Tara took the puck and set it on the table.
"Ready?" she grinned.
"I play winner." someone announced, walking up to the game. Megan turned.
"Jake?" she stared at him, stunned.
What was he doing there? Shouldn't he be doing whatever it was he did with his friends? Surely he hadn't convinced them all to come follow her around.
Suddenly, Megan heard a heavy clunk. She looked back at the game; Tara had scored while Megan was busy gaping at Jake.
"You should pay more attention to the game." Tara grinned. Jake laughed appreciatively.
"Looks like I'll be playing you next." he told Tara.
"Oh, yeah right." Megan mumbled under her breath – there was no way Megan was going to lose and have Jake make fun of her for it. Megan took the puck slowly, planning out her next move. The score was 6-6; whoever got the next point won the game. And it was definitely not going to be Tara.
Megan geared herself up, focusing only on the game and ignoring Jake standing there watching. She and Tara went back and forth for three agonizing minutes. Megan missed the puck a few times, but fortunately, she didn't manage to knock it into her own goal again either. Finally, Megan managed to bounce the puck off the side about a foot from Tara's goal. And much to her surprise, it went in. Tara swung, but she was too late; the puck landed in her goal with that heavy sound.
"Yes!" Megan practically screamed.
"Rematch!" Tara announced instantly.
"After me." Jake told her.
"No cheating." Megan said sternly, narrowing her eyes as he changed places with Tara.
"How do you cheat at air hockey?" Tara asked. Jake shrugged, not quite managing to put an innocent expression on his face.
"Trust me – if anyone can, it's him." Megan told her. Jake laughed.
"No cheating. Promise." he said. He placed his hand over his heart, looking almost genuine for once.
"You ever played this before?" she asked. It just didn't seem like something he'd have a lot of opportunities to do. She racked her brain, trying to remember if they'd played it when she ditched.
"This game specifically?" he asked. "No. But I've done something similar before."
"Yeah? When?"
"Well, I need some way to keep myself entertained."
He grinned, and Megan didn't ask any more questions. She knew that whatever he was talking about probably wasn't something she wanted him explaining in front of all her friends.
"Anyway, it doesn't really seem like rocket science to me."
"Well, we'll see about that." Megan grumbled. Jake heard her and laughed.
She knew he was right, but she didn't like the cockiness. Especially from someone who'd never even played before.
It turned out that Jake wasn't bad at air hockey. Megan was sure she'd be able to beat him easily, especially if he really wasn't going to cheat. She did get the first three points, but he managed to pick it up after that. Of course she won – she played this game way too much to lose to someone who'd never done it before. And she wouldn't have thought it was possible, but she actually did have fun against him. She could almost see herself taking him here on a somewhat regular basis.
"I thought you said you'd never played that before." someone said, coming up to Jake. It was Drew.
"What are you doing here?" Megan asked. And since when did he know Jake anyway?
"We saw you guys come in. So, we thought we'd follow you." he told her. "How'd you manage to convince everyone to come here anyway?"
"Stacey suggested it, actually." Megan told him.
"Really?" Drew seemed surprised. "Who knew your new friends were as dorky as you?"
"Gee, thanks." Megan rolled her eyes. "So how do you know Jake?"
She tried not to sound suspicious, but she really wanted to know how he'd managed that, especially if it turned out that Jake had done something without telling her.
"He's Greg's friend." Drew shrugged. "We all came here together."
For the first time, Megan looked around. Apparently her brother had come with Greg, Kurt, and half the soccer team.
"And you know Greg how?"
"Through soccer." Drew rolled his eyes. "We're on the same team, remember?"
"I just didn't think you really hung out with them."
"They asked me. Wow, you're nosy!"
"Am not." Megan told him halfheartedly, already turning back to Jake.
"When did you get to be friends with Greg anyway?" Megan asked. She knew they ate lunch together, but she thought that was it.
"Yeah." Jen added, coming up behind Megan. Megan was just glad to see she wasn't the only one surprised by this.
"Since we met in class." Jake told them. He looked at Megan just a little apologetically and asked, "Is that not alright?"
"Why wouldn't it be?" Greg asked. Suddenly, Megan wished she hadn't brought this up here.
"Oh, it's not a problem." Jen gushed. "We were just surprised, that's all."
"Yeah..." Megan added wearily, backing down. She looked at Jake and wondered – was that relief she saw flash across his face?
"So, Megan, I think you owe me a rematch on that car game over there." Jake said.
"Wait – since when?" Jen sounded incensed all over again.
Megan turned to glare at him, and for the first time since she'd met him, she saw that he'd said something he hadn't meant to.
"Since...well, since we played about a week ago." Jake told her.
"Really?" Jen narrowed her eyes. "I never heard about that."
"It was when I ditched." Megan mumbled, looking down at her shoes.
"Wait – what?"
"So you two already know each other? Because you were out ditching together?" Tara asked.
"It's where we met, actually." Jake grinned wickedly at Megan before continuing. "I mean, I was going to say it was after school, but you know."
"I guess I'm just more honest." Megan mumbled darkly, wishing she'd thought of saying after school.
"Hey! I can be honest." He looked almost insulted. But in an instant, that grin was back.
"Whatever." Megan mumbled. Then turning back to the game she said, "Fine, I'll give you your rematch. But I warn you – I'm going to win."
"You wish!" Drew announced, tagging along.
Megan stopped and stared at Jake, horrified by the idea.
"I do not!" she said quickly. Then, recovering, she added, "I mean, it's just a fact – no need for wishing."
"You say that now." Jake said knowingly.
"Oh, shut up." Megan turned to follow him, but Drew cut her off.
"Did you really ditch to come to the arcade?" he asked.
"That wasn't the reason." she told him; that would make her look even worse.
"But you did ditch, right?"
"Don't tell mom and dad. Or Ben." Megan practically begged. Drew tapped his chin dramatically, as if in deep thought. Megan had to fight hard to keep from yelling at him.
"So you're actually friends with Tara now, huh?" he said, thinking out loud.
"Yeah...so?" Megan didn't like where this was headed.
"Well, maybe you could put in a good word for me – you know, tell her how great I am? And don't complain if we hang out with you guys sometimes."
"We?" Megan narrowed her eyes.
"Me and the guys."
"So you're friends with them now?"
Somehow, Megan had a hard time believing that a group of juniors and seniors were really that ok with a sophomore hanging out with them.
"I'm hanging out with them today, aren't I?" Drew shot back. "Besides, I think Jake likes me."
"Of course he does." Megan rolled her eyes. She had no doubt why Jake would want to be friends with her younger brother.
"Is that a no?" Drew set his jaw. "Then I guess I'll just tell everybody what you did. How long do you think they'll ground you for? I'm guessing three weeks – you?"
"Ok – fine." Megan snapped. "But you better not be your usual, charming self."
"I'll be on my best behavior." Drew promised, flashing her his most reassuring grin. Megan just sneered.77Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQIe180WkKe
