THE NEW DIG DUG CHAMP
(madmax part 1)
Benjamin Newby crept around his house looking for change, being quiet so that his father wouldn't hear him and question what he was doing. After receiving a call from his friend Dustin – well, Ben wouldn't call themselves friends, but Dustin sure would – about meeting up at the arcade, Ben decided to join. Besides, what else would he have to do? Hanging out with his nerdy acquaintances didn't necessarily seem like a bad idea. After shuffling through the couch cushions for quarters and successfully finding three dollars in change, Ben turned to make his way out of the house, stopping dead in his tracks as his father cleared his throat from behind him.
Ben closed his eyes and mumbled a curse word, then turning to look at his father, Bob Newby, who watched him with slight amusement. "Where are you off to, bud?" Bob asked his son, not in a mean or scolding way, but just genuinely wanting to know. Ben shrugged, "The arcade?" he asked, not intending for it to come out as a question. He shook his head, "Dustin invited me to go hang out for a bit." Ben finished, feeling stupid for not just asking if he could go. "That okay?"
Bob smiled, happy to hear that his son was actually socializing. "Of course it's okay! I'm glad you're hanging out with your friends, Benji." Bob admitted sincerely, a huge smile on his face. Ben internally cringed at the use of his childhood nickname. Bob then waved his hand towards the door, "Go have fun with your friends!" Ben nodded, a ghost of a smile on his face. "Thanks, dad." He turned and made a beeline for the door, opening it. "Just be back before nine!" Ben heard his father yell before the door was closed behind him. The boy adjusted his beanie, pulled up the headphones dangling around his neck, started his music, and grabbed his bike, picking it up and biking off to the arcade in town.
Ben made it to the arcade, parking his bike at the bike rack next to three other bikes. He looked around for Dustin, Lucas, Mike, and Will, but couldn't find them, suspecting they must've already gotten there and gone inside. Ben pulled his headphones down to dangle around his neck and paused his music, shoving his hands in his pockets as he made his way inside. The beanie-wearing boy instantly spotted the others crowding Dragon's Lair. "To slay the dragon, use the magic sword." The seductive voice of the princess spoke, Ben cringed as he made his way over, throwing his right arm around Will's shoulders, which startled the shorter boy. "Hello nerds." Ben said with a smirk.
Lucas nodded at him and Will smiled up at him. "Hey, Ben!" Will greeted happily. Dustin mumbled a hello but kept his eyes on the game screen. Ben looked to Mike with raised eyebrows, but the raven-haired boy just rolled his eyes and moved away from him, noticing that Ben was too close to his liking. Ben rolled his eyes as well and watched Dustin play, keeping his arm around Will's shoulders.
"Oh, Jesus!" Dustin groaned, "I'm in unchartered territory here, guys." Ben didn't know much about Dragon's Lair, so he just watched in silence. Ben jumped when the boys all started shouting instructions to Dustin, watching with wide eyes as they panicked. Dustin yelled at them to shut up multiple times, as he attempted to slay the dragon in the game. Dustin gasped as his character died, his three friends all sighed in disappointment, while Ben just chuckled to himself. "No! No! No! I hate this overpriced bullshit!" Dustin complained as he smacked the game. "Son of a bitch! Piece of shit!"
Ben's chuckles turned into loud laughter, catching the boys' attention. Will and Lucas were amused, Mike rolled his eyes, and Dustin scoffed. "This isn't funny, Ben!" The curly haired boy whined. Ben shook his head, his laughter dying down. "It's a little funny, actually."
Lucas turned to Dustin, "You're not nimble enough, but you'll get there one day." He told the boy, a smug look on his face. "But until then, Princess Daphne is still mine." Lucas finished, cockily pointing to the "sexy" princess on the screen. Dustin rolled his eyes, "Whatever. I'm still tops on Centipede and Dig Dug." He assured, more for himself than his friends. The store employee, Keith, made his way over to the group, obnoxiously munching on some Cheeto Puffs. Ben couldn't stand Keith, he thought he was really weird and annoying. "You sure about that?" The nerdy teen asked Dustin, who glanced around in worry. "Sure about what?" he asked. Keith smiled smugly and stuck a Cheeto Puff in his mouth.
Dustin pushed past Ben and rushed over to Dig Dug, his friends running after him. Ben took his time following them, giving Keith a weird look as he passed him. "Move! Move!" He could hear Dustin shouting and yelling "no!" over and over, so he ran over to the group now crowding Dig Dug. Ben stood behind Mike, looking at the game screen, his eyes widened in disbelief at the score. "751,300 points!" Will shouted in shock. Mike shook his head, "That's impossible." Ben nodded in agreement, "Whoever got that many points is a god." he whispered, only Mike heard him. He looked at Ben for a second, then back to the screen.
Dustin looked back to Keith, annoyed, "Who is Mad Max?" Keith shrugged and said, "Better than you." Dustin responded by giving Keith the finger. "Mad Max is a pretty sick name." Ben said to himself, causing Dustin to glare at him. Will then pointed to Keith, curious, "Is it you?" The weird teen scoffed at the question. "You know I despise Dig Dug." The boys all groaned, Lucas then asked, "Then who is it?" Dustin nodded, "Yeah, spill it, Keith!"
Keith ate another Cheeto Puff, Ben silently stared in envy. He was starving. "You want information, then I need something in return." Keith said, directing his attention to Mike. All the boys looked to Mike and Ben choked on a laugh, knowing what Keith was implying. Mike's eyes widened and he shook his head furiously. "No, no, no. No way. You're not getting a date with her!" Lucas sighed, "Mike, come on. Just get him the date." He begged. Mike shook his head again, "I'm not prostituting my sister!" He threw his hands up in exasperation.
Ben stopped laughing and made eye contact with Keith, "You think you can get a date with Nancy? Don't you think you should try for someone... You know... In your league?" Ben asked, barking out a laugh towards the end of his question. The boys all chuckled at Ben's comment. Keith's lip curled in anger, opening his mouth to fire back a response but was cut off by Dustin. "No, don't get him the date. You know what? He's gonna spread his nasty-ass rash to your whole family."
Keith gaped at Dustin, extremely offended, "Acne isn't a rash and it isn't contagious, you prepubescent wastoid!" Dustin raised his eyebrows, "Oh, I'm a wastoid? She wouldn't go on a date with you! You make, like, what? $2.50 an hour?" The curly haired boy asked sarcastically. Keith's eyes landed on his hair. "Nice perm." Dustin scoffed. "You're gonna make fun of my hair?" Ben rolled his eyes at the two, looking around and noticing Will had walked away from the group. Confused, Ben walked around the arcade to find him.
Ben found his way outside, finding Will standing there looking out at something. "Will?" Ben asked softly, walking towards the boy. He asked again, another voice joining him. Ben looked behind him and noticed Mike had followed him outside. Mike's eyes darted from Ben to Will, "Will!" Mike shouted, causing Will to gasp and turn to notice the two's presence. "Are you okay?" Mike asked, concerned. Will looked back towards the sky behind him, "Yeah. I just... I needed some air." He sounded unsure of himself. Ben put a hand on his shoulder, causing the boy the jump. Will looked at Ben, nodding as a silent way to tell him he was okay. Mike walked over and put his arm around Will'a shoulders, slightly shoving Ben away. "Come on. You're up on Dig Dug." Mike said, looking at Ben, who Mike would have thought looked hurt. But the look went away as soon as it was there. "Let's take that top score back, huh?" Mike suggested, ushering Will inside.
Ben cleared his throat and started walking to the bike rack. He got on his bike and pulled the headphones dangling around his neck over his ears, pulling out his Walkman to press play on a song. Before he could press play he noticed feet walking towards him. Ben looked up to see Mike had come back outside. He looked like didn't want to be out there. Ben moved the headphones back down so he could hear Mike talk. "Hey, you leaving already?" Mike asked. It sounded forced, like he didn't actually care.
Ben nodded. "Yep. Bet you're glad about that, huh?" He picked at his nails, directing his attention to the street in front of him. Mike sighed, "I don't–"
"You don't have to lie, Wheeler. I know you don't like me. You make it painfully obvious." Ben said, twisting his shoe on the gravel. Mike crossed his arms over his chest, "Sorry." He mumbled quietly. Ben shrugged and kicked off on his bike, but Mike quickly grabbed his jacket sleeve before he could go. Ben gave a confused look. "Uh– I'm sorry. For shoving you a little bit ago." Mike apologized, causing the beanie-wearing boy to blink in utter confusion before shaking his head. "It's whatever. Later." Ben pulled the headphones over his ears, pressed play on his walkman, and pushed off on his bike. This time not being stopped by Mike.
Mike watched Ben bike away in annoyance. For some reason he felt a sliver of guilt. Mike decided to ignore it and head back inside the arcade.
✰✰✰
"Meet the human brain." The science teacher, Mr. Clarke, said with excitement. Too much excitement for a middle school science class that early in the morning, in Ben's opinion. Mike, Lucas, and Dustin all looked equally as excited, though. Will looked lost in thought, while Ben laid his head on the desk in boredom. He hated science. "I know. I know. It doesn't look like much." Mr. Clarke told. "A little gross even, right?" But consider this." Ben stopped listening at that point, having dozed off.
Mike looked behind him to see if Ben was paying any attention, not being surprised at all to see he was sleeping. Mike rolled his eyes and looked back to the front. The sound of a door closing startled Ben awake, the boy looking around in confusion. "Well good morning, Mr. Newby!" Mr. Clarke smiled brightly yet sarcastically at the boy rubbing his eyes. The students giggled, finding Ben being scolded quite humorous. Mr. Clarke then directed his attention to the red-haired girl that walked in with the principle. Everyone looked over at her with curiosity, not being used to having new students.
"Ah, this must be our new student." Mr. Clarke pointed out with a smile. The principle nodded, "Indeed it is. All yours." He nodded before he walked out. The new girl quickly tried to make it past the teacher and over to her seat, but was stopped. "All right. Hold up there. You don't get away that easy." Mr. Clarke held his hand out and motioned for her to go back to the front. "Come on up. Don't be shy." Ben felt bad for her. Mr. Clarke nodded at Dustin. "Dustin, drum roll." The curly-haired boy closed his book and started tapping his hands on the cover to mimic a drum roll. "Class, please welcome, all the way from sunny California, the latest passenger to join us on our curiosity voyage, Maxine!" Mr. Clarke announced, gesturing to the girl. She looked down, embarrassed and annoyed, and mumbled, "It's Max."
Mr. Clarke didn't quite understand her. "Sorry?" he asked. Dustin, Mike, Lucas, Ben, and Will all looked at her in shock. "Nobody calls me Maxine. It's Max." The girl, Max, pointed out. Ben smirked, he thought she was cool already. "Mad Max." Lucas whispered to the group. "Well, all aboard, Max." Mr. Clarke welcomed.
The boys eyes followed Max as she shuffled over to her seat in the back of the room. She caught their eyes, raising an eyebrow at them. They all quickly looked away, but Ben brought up a hand and waved at her. Max waved back.
Oh yeah, he was so going to befriend her.
JAY SPEAKS!
ben: h-
mike: shut up😡😡😡😡
not edited that well bc im lazy so b nice :P