Y/n's pov
"Uh, I've got 23 quarters. Dustin? Over." I said into my radio, looking through my jar.
"23?!? I've got four! Lucas what's your haul?" Dustin huffed from the other side of the radio.
"Well, Dustin, take your PUNY haul and multiply it by 5! Over." Lucas said.
"...how?!?" Dustin asked, baffled.
"Well, while you were rummaging around like a homeless bum, I mowed old man Humphrey's lawn and Y/n has been saving since last Christmas! She has a shitload of cash! Over." Lucas said smugly into the radio.
"Old man Humphrey's got that kind of cash?" Dustin asked.
"Just call Mike already. Over." Lucas sighed.
"You call Mike!" Dustin argued.
"You guys do know that I literally live with him, right?" I asked, to which I was ignored.
"I gotta go take a shower, from doing work like a real man! Over and out." Lucas said, turning off his supercom.
"Mike, do you copy? Over." Dustin said.
"Yeah, yeah, I copy." Mike replied nervously.
"What are you doing on this channel?" I asked.
"Uhh, nothing!" Mike denied suspiciously. "And you're literally in the same house as me, Y/n."
"We have $11.75 total, what about you? Over." Dustin asked.
"Shit! Uh, I don't know yet." Mike said.
"What do you mean, you don't know yet?" I narrowed my eyes.
"Hold on. Call Will." Mike ordered, turning off his supercom.
"I got to go talk to Michael. Call Will, okay?" I asked Dustin. "Over and out."
"Mike!" Where the hell are you, Mike?!" I called through the house, leaving our room.
"Language!" I heard from the living room.
"Sorry dad!" I called down the stairs.
I found my brother rummaging around in our sisters underwear drawer.
"Oh, Michael , if Nancy finds you, she'll kill you." I said.
"Just shut up for a second!" He whisper shouted.
I raised my arms up and exited the room just as Nancy walked up the stairs.
I heard yelling and I was walking down the stairs when Mike rushed up beside me and grabbed a hold on my arm harshly, dragging me down the stairs as Nancy ran after us, yelling at Mike.
We got onto our bikes and peddled as fast as we could as Nancy screamed at the both of us.
"I'm sorry Nance!" I yelled over my shoulder.
"I'll pay you back!" Mike shouted.
"Assholes!" Nancy yelled at us.
Eventually, Lucas and Dustin reached us and we reached the arcade and chained up our bikes, Will arriving in his car and talking with his mom.
Will got out of the car and walked up to us.
"Alright, people, let's go!" Dustin said, and we rushed into the arcade.
I loved the arcade so much, Dustin was probably the best at video games in our group, and I still had the top score on pac man, no one could beat it. Dustin however, had managed to beat me at dig dug, but oh well.
We walked over to dragons lair, Lucas's personal favourite, and since I had the most quarters, i got to play first.
Dustin and Lucas stood on either side of me, yelling in my ear what to do while Mike watched intently and Will stood beside him, cheering me on.
"I'm in uncharted territory here, guys." I panicked.
I always sucked at dragons lair.
"To slay the dragon, use the magic sword!" Princess daphne, Lucas's crush said in her bubbly voice and I had to refrain from rolling my eyes.
"Shit, this isn't going to work guys!" I yelled.
"Down, down, down!" Lucas chanted.
"No, wait! You have to jump over that part!" Dustin yelled.
"Shut up!" I yelled.
"No, no, no, no, no. No! Damn it!" I said as the bright words "game over" came across the screen. "This game is bullshit!"
"Wow, that's a new record. You died even faster this time." Dustin stated.
"Oh, please. I'm better than you at this game." I scoffed.
"Whatever, I'm still top on centipede and
dig dug." Dustin smirked.
"You sure about that?" Keith, one of the employees said, shoving a Cheeto into his mouth.
"Jesus, Keith! How many times?! Don't do that!" I scolded. Keith had a tendency to sneak up on us.
"Sure about what." Dustin asked, as Keith shoved another Cheeto into his mouth.
Then he whipped around to the dig dug machine.
"You're kidding me?" Dustin asked.
"No, no, no!" Dustin yelled at the machine.
My eyes bugged at the new score onscreen.
"751,300 points?!?" I asked.
"Yes. I have eyes. I can see that." Dustin deadpanned.
I went to the machine across from dig dug and saw that I was still in the lead for pac man with 832,006 points.
Thank god.
"How did they get that score?" Lucas said as I came back to them.
"And who's 'Madmax'?" Dustin asked.
"Better than you" Keith said, earning a glare from Dustin.
Dustin flipped him off.
"Is it you?" Will asked.
"You know I despise dig dug." Keith said.
"We do?" I asked, confused.
Keith glared at me, shoving another Cheeto into his mouth.
"Then who is it?" I asked.
"Yeah, spill it Keith." Dustin added.
"You want information, then I need something in return." Keith said.
He looked at Mike and I and bounced his eyebrows, and I had a sickening feeling I knew what he wanted.
Mike stared at him before a look of realization came across his face, and then a look of disgust.
"No, no, no, no way! I'm not getting you a date with her!" Mike said.
"Come on, man, just get him the date." Lucas said, making me smack his arm in response.
"We're not prostituting our sister!" Mike said.
"But it's for a good cause." Will chimed in.
"Will!" I exclaimed.
"No, you know what? Don't get him the date he's probably gonna spread his nasty-ass rash to your whole family." Dustin said.
"Acne isn't a rash, and it isn't contagious, you prepubescent wastoid." Keith said.
"Oh, HE'S the wastoid? She wouldn't go on a date with you, with or without the rash!" I said.
"It's called Acne." Keith corrected.
"Yeah, you make, what? $2.50 an hour?" Dustin said.
"Where would you take her? The Pharmacy?" I asked.
"Then at least could you pick up some rash cream and do us all a favour?" Dustin said.
"Nice perm." Keith said to Dustin.
"Gonna make fun of my hair?" Dustin asked.
"Cheap shot, noodle head." Lucas fired.
"Hey! I can't help it if my hair is greasy!" Keith said.
"Oh, but you can use this thing called shampoo." I said.
Mike came back from outside to get Will. "Come on, you're next up on dig dug." He said to Will.
I sighed as Keith walked away.
——
We were in Mr. Clarke's 8th grade biology class, and he was talking about the human brain.
"Meet the human brain." He said, holding up a brain model.
"I know, I know, it doesn't look like much, a little gross even, right? But consider this, there are a hundred billion cells inside this miracle of evolution. All working as one. No I did not misspeak. No I did not stutter. A hundred billion." Mr. Clarke said, and Dustin, Lucas, Mike and I looked to each other excitedly.
The door opened, and in came a girl with fiery red hair, and the principal.
"Ah, this must be our new student." Mr. Clarke said.
"Indeed. All yours." The principal said as he exited the class.
"Dustin, drumroll please." Mr. Clarke said, as Dustin closed his textbook and drum rolled on it.
"Everyone, please welcome, all the way from California, the latest passenger to join us on our curiosity voyage, Maxine!" Mr. Clarke exclaimed.
"Max." The girl said.
"I'm sorry?" Mr. Clarke asked.
"No one calls me Maxine, it's Max." The girl said cooly.
"Right, well, welcome aboard, Max." Mr. Clarke corrected himself.
She seemed cool.
"Mad max." Lucas whispered, and we all turned around to see her sit down.
We stared for a moment, before she turned our way and we all played it off as it we hadn't been looking at her.
Word count: 1340