Rising Through Middle Class

Chapter 2: The Arcade

"Look Maddy! I finally found it! Ballroom 210. That's where we-" I turn to look at Maddy who was surprisingly not squealing by now.

"Maddy?" when I look back, she isn't there, "Madds this isn't funny!" I started raising my voice, but nothing happens, she doesn't appear or giggle. She's gone.

Oh no.

"MAAAAAADDDDYYYYY?!?!" I begin to panic, looking under tables, the pool, the restaurant and their kitchen. But no Maddison.  I turn to run back to the lobby but as I was running I bump into someone when I turn the corner.

I heard someone wince and then say "You're in a hurry. What are you looking for?"

When I open my eyes after wincing in pain (because I smashed myself against their chin), I looked at a boy that seemed about my age but extremely cute: beige cargo shorts, and a red polo with Deep grey eyes, dirty blonde and light skin.

"Um.... Yes and pardon" I say with caution and my formal switch turning on

"Can I assist you in anyway?" He stepped forward little

"Unless you have a 7 yr. old in your pocket, I don't believe you can?" I try to sound as relaxed as possible, with little success.

"Oh I have a missing little brother that age too" he gave a small smile

"I have a younger sister.... Well had" his smile grew "Haha I guess, but not for long I'll help you find her"

"You don't have to-" I was about to continue but he interrupts.

"No I want to help. Maybe I'll find my little brother in the process" he says

"I'm Mason Smith, 15" he stretched his hand out, he's very straight forward. And by the way he introduced himself he almost sounds like a richie.

"I'm Angie Campbell, 15 as well" I shook his hand, and introduce myself the same way.

"Well I'm looking for my little brother too, Marcel, people say he's like a little me so I'm hoping he'll be easy to find" he smiled and started walking.

"Well then that's the EXACT opposite of me and my sister" I walk up beside him

"Really? Why?" He looked in my eyes and I realize he has very captivating eyes

"Well I have black hair and blue eyes but Maddison has light brown curly hair and these BEAUTIFUL emerald green eyes." I explain

"I guess you are pretty different, is she your only sibling?" Mason asks putting his hands behind his back

"Well no, I have an older brother, his name's Tyler. Do you got any other siblings to worry about?" I say half joking

"Well, no but I have to say my brother alone is quite the handful, especially since we have very contradicting personalities" he turned back to me

"How so?" I try to sound sophisticated in case he was a richy, there's a lot of them here or so my mother says

"Well he's very, how should I put this..... Cocky, sarcastic and very mischievous." It was my turn to look confused "Well that didn't take long to think of? But then again, the younger ones are always a handful."

"I guess you're right, anyway where are we going ?" I ask after I realize I've been following him

"Arcade"

"My sister isn't really into video games" I say sheepishly

"Yea but my brother is" he looks at me and raises his eyebrows

"Oh so we're first looking for him. Got it." He didn't answer but I'm pretty sure he heard me.

We walked through a hall way that said 'Recreation Center' and he led me to two black doors that had a blue sign with stars that said 'ARCADE'

"Here we are... Lets go" he grabbed my hand and opened the door that led to a dark room with dim lights that had aisles and aisles and AISLES of games: Sonic, Mario, Wreck It Raulph, PAC Man, and even Xbox and Xbox Kinects, Dance games and Playstations. Imagine going down ALL those aisles for 1 little boy. When he pauses, I assume he's thinking of the challenge ahead of us.

"These games seem tempting........ why don't we play for a while"

I raised an eyebrow "It seems you and your brother might have a little more in common than you think" I smiled

"I guess" he half smiled and  shrugged his shoulders.

"Well I'll go get tokens" he was about to leave but I stopped him

"Are you serious right now? Our 7 year-old siblings are missing, you think it's appropriate to play video games?" I quite surprised at how calm he's being.

"Well I guess you're right, let's look for them then" he says slightly rolling his eyes

We split up, he took the right aisles, I took the left. I begin walking seeing boys of all ages playing games, I walk by one game in specific and see a group of boys huddled, yelling at the screen. I roll my eyes, I just don't understand why they're so obsessed with—

My thoughts are interrupted when I feel someone's hand smack my ass. I freeze for a minute, trying to acknowledge what happened. I then turn around to see a guy in blue baggy jeans and a black hoodie, wink at me and turn back around. He was tall, looked a little older than me but that wasn't going to stop me from asking, "Um did you just smack my -?"

"Ass? Yes, yes I did" he smirked, leaning forward a little. And I must admit that this little gesture made my blood boil.

"Listen here you-" Thankfully I was interrupted, just not by the person I wanted to be interrupted by.

"Excuse me sir, but that's no way to respect a lady " I hear a sweet voice, that seems to be coming from behind this dude. When he turns I  see Mason stepped toward him, and suddenly I notice how much taller Mason is than the boy.

"And who the hell are you?" Mason got next to me and put his arm around me

"Someone you'll most likely remember the next time you think about disrespecting a young lady." Mason goes up and knees the boy, who is crouching over in pain. I gasp and look at the boy who then says in a strained voice, "My bad dude, I didn't know she was your girl."

Before I can correct him, Mason says, "Yeah well now you know."

After he left, we walked further down the aisle and I yell, "Mason, I'm not your-!" he put his hand over my mouth as I started screaming.

"I know" he whispers gently, "but if a girl that's NOT taken comes in here, that's like meat for the dogs, these boys aren't exactly gentlemen."

It all made sense, when he grabbed my hand, why he didn't want us to split, Mason didn't want this to happen.

"Oh sorry." I mumble through his hand.

He backed up a little and said, "For what? You're the victim. It's alright, you can't help it if you're beautiful. Now let's keep looking." he grabbed my hand and led the way.

Normally, I'd freak out that he called me beautiful. I should, if he wasn't a richie but if he is, then that's normal. Plus, my little sister's gone, I've got more important things to worry about.