The Gradebook

Chapter 14: Trivial Pursuit

CHAPTER 14: TRIVIAL PURSUIT

Tick, tock. Tick, tock.

Five minutes. School finished five minutes ago. Cody was long overdue.

He had said after last period, right? Maybe I had heard wrong. He’d probably said ‘definitely not’ after last period.

I pressed my face beside the double cherry doors, into the glass walls that gave a hazy view of the main entrance inside Cedarfield Heights. Only two empty worn-out seats lingered in the middle of the school entry, along with an overstocked trophy case that displayed some of the school’s greatest achievements over the past few years. One was a soccer championship trophy; I could only assume it was Cody who brought that home.

Well, it was ghost-town barren in there, and there was no changing that. It only made sense. It was Friday, and Friday meant parties for the in-crowd, study hours in the library for the out-crowd, and possibly the most busily booked day at the local spa. Nobody would bother to waste time idling around the secretary’s office, because she’d cattily shoo you out of school anyways. People were out and about.

I couldn’t see anything anymore, all of a sudden. A pair of rough palms pressed against my eyes, and I squealed. Only after producing an array of pitchy and embarrassing shrieks did I realize it was just Cody.

I turned around, facing his famous wide-mouth grin. “Cody, you better stop scaring me before I die young.”

He chuckled. “Isn’t it better to live fast and die young, though? Life doesn’t have to be boring.”

“That’s arguable.”

We continued to lightly banter on the way to the arcade, in his Mazda car. I turned the music on louder as we got to the plaza with the arcade. To my delight, ‘We Are Young’ by Fun. was playing, and Cody burst into a fit of laughter.

“Very funny, Jock,” I muttered. “Anyways. What should we do first?”

“Hmm... Surprise me. I’ll get the tickets for the games,” Cody said, winking.

I walked into Dave and Buster’s, glancing around at all the lit-up video games, with their massive controllers, and big game-playing space. But the answer was right in front of me.

Whack-A-Mole.

Nostalgia crept up on my face in the form of a smile. Whack-A-Mole was every child’s favourite old-school game, and there was no beating the classics. I leaned against the plastic edge of the game as Cody walked back toward me.

He stopped a few feet away and looked at the game. Then he pointed a finger at the Whack-A-Mole, a confused look on his face. “This?”

“Exactly this,” I said, giggling.

“Well, if you insist.” He chuckled and passed me five tickets that I inserted into a slot.