𝐋𝐈𝐓𝐓𝐋𝐄 𝐅𝐑𝐄𝐀𝐊, stranger things 1

𝐟𝐢𝐯𝐞 - 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐩𝐞𝐭𝐢𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐬

"karma, karma, karma, karma, karma chameleoooon. you come and go, you come and gooooooo." she mumbled as she killed the last ship from that round. "loving would be easy if your colors were like my dreaaamms; red, gold, and greeeeen. red, gold, and greeeeen."

she felt a tap to her shoulder, quickly shutting her mouth, thinking that it was keith or someone complaining about her singing so loudly. . . even if she was mumbling. she felt another tap to her shoulder, making her curse under her breath. whoever it was could clearly see that she was not only playing a game, but was also listening to music. another tap to her shoulder is what made her die, the latina seeing red for a quick second when she saw how close she was to beating max's high score. she quickly turned around, pulling her headphones down to hang around her neck as she got ready to curse whoever had distracted her out. she froze when she saw that the someone was max, all of her anger flying out of the window.

"sorry, i didn't mean to make you die." max apologized, an innocent smile pulling at her lips.

"uh, it's okay." arlo quickly said, shaking her head. she brought her hand up to her walkman, looking down as she pressed paused to stop her music from playing. "i - i thought you were someone else."

"i didn't expect to see you here." max decided to inform, letting her eyes scan over the screen that was showing the scores. she smiled when she saw arlo's name under hers, her score being only 100 away from beating her own.

"why is that?" arlo questioned, letting her eyes scan max's face.

the mayfield girl shrugged, looking back at arlo. she felt her heart leap into her heart when she saw that arlo was already looking at her. "you don't seem like the kind of girl to be into this stuff."

"i'm pretty sure i'm the only girl in this town that's into this stuff." arlo reasoned, looking around the arcade to see if she had seen any other girls inside. she didn't. "well, beside you, obviously."

"so i'm just connecting the fact that your name is arlo and that the name of the high score i beat was also arlo." max announced.

"yep. you're the first person to beat my score." arlo nodded, feeling proud of herself that max was the first and only person to ever beat her score, ever. "it hurts to know that you did it, but i'm happy that i finally have some competition."

"oh, you think we're on the same level to be competitors?" max challenged, her eyebrows raised as a smirk pulled at her lips.

arlo hummed, "oh, definitely. i'll be back on top in no time, mayfield. just wait and see."

"whatever you say, cherry." max said, making arlo's stomach do a flip. "in the meantime, do you wanna play me in karate champ?"

"oh, you're on!" arlo nodded, an excited smile appearing on her face as she bent down and grabbed her bag. "lead the way, red!" this earned her a look from max, the taller girl's eyebrows knitted together. "what? you call me 'cherry,' so i'm calling you 'red.' we're even."

max rolled her eyes, grabbing ahold of arlo's wrist before she started to drag her towards where karate champ was located. "whatever. you're acting like you don't like it."

"i never said that." arlo mumbled, feeling her cheeks heat up. max's smile widened at that, continued to lead the shorter girl to the game.

"you didn't have to." max shot back, turning her head so that she can look back at arlo.

the two got to karate champ, max pulling out two quarters from her jacket and stuffing them into the slots before pressing start on the game. the two started spamming the buttons to try beat the other, not being aware of the two pairs of eyes that were watching them. dustin and lucas had seen arlo walk into the arcade while they were waiting for max to make an appearance, doing a stakeout to make sure that max was mad max. the two boys watched from outside the arcade, looking through the window. they were confused on why arlo had been all cheesy and flushed the whole time that max and her had been talking, but they didn't dwell on it. they saw how the girls interacted with one another whole time, the both of them pushing each other as a way to distract the other and get them to lose. after awhile, the boys had decided to go home, coming up with a plan on how they were gonna get max to join the party. and after about five rounds of karate champ, the girls had decided to start heading home. arlo had agreed to walk max home since she lived the closest.