19. Ch 19- Arcade Antics

The bell rang throughout the school, much to the joy of the elementary students. "Alright, class!" Mrs Johnson said to her sixth grade class. "That concludes our lesson, and the half term! Enjoy your week off," she looked to the side to mumble "I know I will," then looked back to the class, "and I'll see you the first Monday back! Class is dismissed."

Not one of the kids wasted any time in making their way out of the classroom, eager to get out of the school and begin their break. Walking up to his locker, Lincoln opened it up, grabbed the rest of his belongings, and locked the door again. When he saw his friends next to their lockers, he smiled. "You guys ready for tonight?" Lincoln asked.

"Too right!" Rusty replied as he and the others closed their lockers. "I got my stuff ready at home, I just need to get it after we've been to the arcade."

"Same here," Zach added.

"And me," Liam spoke next. "My pa also wants me to bring some fresh food from the farm for breakfast tomorrow, as a thank you to your dads, Clyde."

"That's awesome!" Clyde exclaimed. "My dads will really appreciate that."

"Hey, guys!" They heard Stella say as she approached them. "You guys still going to Gus' now?"

"You know it!" Liam replied. "Your parents say you can come to the sleepover?"

"Actually, they did! My dad was worried about me staying over with five boys, but my mom talked him round."

"That's great! I'll let my dads know on the way to the arcade," Clyde told her.

"Well, what are we waiting for? Let's go!"

The boys all agreed, before the six of them made their way out of the school. They began to walk along the sidewalk in the direction of the arcade, when they heard someone shout in their direction. "Hey! Wait up!"

Stopping and turning around, they saw Girl Jordan approach them. "Howdy, Girl Jordan!" Liam greeted, while Zach, Rusty and Clyde gave a small wave.

"Hey, guys," she greeted back, then turned to Lincoln. "Hey, remember what I was talking to you about yesterday after practice?"

"Yeah, the- wait, they said yes?!"

She nodded, and his eyes went wide. "My parents gave the all clear!"

"That's awesome!" He held up a hand, and she gave him a high five as the two laughed happily, much to the confusion of the others.

"You guys gonna tell us what's got you so excited?" Rusty asked, crossing his arms and raising his eyebrow.

"Oh, right." Jordan turned to the others. "My parents are letting me hold a costume party at our house next Thursday for Halloween, and they've even hired a DJ for the party!"

"Wow, that sounds amazing!" Stella gasped.

"I know, right? You guys should totally come too! It'll be great to have you there."

"Yeah, that sounds great! I'd love to!"

"Same here!" Liam added.

Rusty, Zach and Clyde, on the other hand, looked nervous. "I dunno," Zach replied. "What if it ends up like… Y'know…"

Jordan gave a small giggle behind her hand. "Guys, it's fine. That's the past. It's a costume party, not a pool party, so you won't be stuck in your undies, there's no hairspray to make you lose your hair, and I'll make sure to keep the hot sauce separate from the ketchup so you don't have an allergic reaction again." The three boys blushed as the memories came back to them, with Lincoln blushing a bit as well. Stella, confused by this, turned to Liam.

"I'll tell you about it later," he replied, and her only response was to shrug.

"So, what do you say, guys?" Jordan asked again. "You in?"

They looked at each other, then shrugged, and turned back to her. "We'll be there," Clyde answered whilst Rusty and Zach nodded, which made Jordan's smile grow.

"Sweet! Thanks, guys. I promise, you'll love it. So, where are you guys headed now?"

"We're headed to Gus' Games And Grub," Lincoln told her.

"You've mentioned that place a few times, now that I think about it."

"Well, it's probably our favourite place to hang out in Royal Woods." His eyes lit up as an idea came to him. "Hey, why don't you join us so you can see for yourself?"

She shook her head. "Thanks, but I'll have to pass. I need to get home, my sister wants to spend some time with me."

"That's cool. I wouldn't want to keep any of my sisters waiting if she wanted to hang out with me."

She smirked. "Yeah, but you have ten sisters to deal with. I'm surprised they don't have you like a slave there." They both laughed at the joke. "In all seriousness, I do need to get going, so maybe I'll join you another time. You gonna be at practice on Sunday?"

"Yep. Guess I'll see you there."

"Sure thing." She then looked at the others. "See ya later, guys!"

"See ya!" They replied as she walked off.

"Right, we better get going before Gus' gets packed," Lincoln spoke up again. "Lets go!"

Lincoln led the way towards the arcade, not noticing that the guys were a little bit further behind. "Why did he ask Girl Jordan to join us?" Rusty asked, keeping his voice down so Lincoln wouldn't hear him.

"Yeah, this is supposed to be our thing!" Zach complained. "Why would he want her to come too?"

"I get that they're friends too and all," Liam reasoned, "so maybe he were just tryna be nice?"

"But they're already hanging out three times a week at dodgeball!" Rusty countered. "Why would he want her joining us for our thing?"

"Not to mention the fact he's starting sitting with her at lunch on Monday's," Zach added.

"It's almost as if he'd rather spend time with her than us," Rusty finished bitterly.

Clyde, who had been quiet, felt his heart clench a bit at these words. 'He… he wouldn't, would he?' He questioned to himself. 'I know I said it on Monday, but I thought that was just me being paranoid… was I actually right?'

"Hey, guys!" Lincoln called out, gaining their attention. "You okay back there?"

"Y-Yeah, we're fine, Lincoln!" Clyde called back, then turned to the others. "Let's Not think like that. We're here now, so let's just go have fun at the arcade." As they ran ahead to catch up with Lincoln, the other boys agreed and did the same, not noticing the questioning glare Stella gave them.

'What was that about?'

Eventually, the group of six arrived at the familiar arcade. The exterior had a bit of a retro look, with a green and white chequered wall and a red and black lettered 'Gus' Games And Grub' sign above a red awning, but the interior was just as retro. The floor was black and white like a chessboard, the walls were green and light yellow stripes, and there were red booths with black tables. Even some of the games were retro, with titles like Caterpillar, Meteors and Monkey John, but still had some newer games to make sure that it still stayed relevant.

Lincoln walked up to the counter with the others just behind him, and he saw a worker dressed in the arcade's uniform of a red, white, yellow and green striped shirt and matching bucket hat, as well as blue jeans. "Hey, what's up, guys?" He said with a smile. "Been a while since you guys swung by here."

"Hey, Jared," Lincoln greeted back, as did the others. "We figured we'd wait until now so we could celebrate half term."

"Well, I hope you're ready to play." He then adopted a smirk on his face. "You've lost a few of your records since you last came here."

Lincoln smirked back as he pulled out his money and placed it on the table. "Not for much longer."

Jared simply chuckled, before taking the money and exchanging it for quarters. The others gave him their money one by one and he did the same for them, turning their bills into quarters. "Alright, kids, there you go. Have fun!"

"Thank you!" The kids turned around and looked at each other. "So," Stella asked, "what should we do first?"

"Well, Zach owes me a rematch at Zombie Snipers 3!" Lincoln pointed out with a daring look at the redhead.

"That's fine by me," Zach shot back. "Been a while, could do with beating your butt again."

"I think I'm gonna start on the air hockey table," Rusty spoke next. "Who fancies a match?"

"I'll take you up on that," Stella told him.

Liam turned to Clyde. "Wanna see if we can beat Dual Draconian?"

"Let's do it!" Clyde replied.

So, the kids went off to their separate machines. After putting in their quarters for the air hockey table, Stella took the puck and started the match, her and Rusty sending the puck back and forth across the table with each 'clack' resonating throughout the arcade. Eventually, after fading going one direction, Stella ricocheted the puck off one side of the table and into Rusty's goal. She gave a small cheer while Rusty bent down to collect the puck and put it back into play. "So," she said to the redhead, "what was all that about before?"

"What are you talking out?" He questioned, serving the puck for the next point.

"You, Liam, Zach and Clyde. Before, when we were leaving school, you were talking to each other about something without me and Lincoln. What was that about?"

"Oh, that was nothing."

She looked at him skeptically after she scored again. "Nothing?"

"Yeah, just… guy talk, you know? Nothing, really."

"Then, why wasn't Lincoln part of your 'guy talk'? He's a guy too."

"Well, it didn't really concern him, and he had already gone ahead, so it didn't really make sense to bother."

She didn't even realise that he had scored in her goal, she was so dubious of his 'explanation'. "What would the four of you talk about that doesn't involve Lincoln? The five of you are best friends!"

"Hey, we don't do everything together! I don't join Zach and Clyde when they go antiquing. Liam doesn't join me when I take my bike for a ride."

"But when did you four start talking behind Lincoln?" Before Rusty could respond, she narrowed her eyes at him. "We're you talking about Lincoln behind his back?!"

"What?! N-no, of course not! Seriously, Stella, it's not important. It's just some guy stuff that Lincoln wouldn't care for. Now, come on, it's your serve."

She knew that he was lying, but she could also tell that she wasn't going to get the truth out of him at that time, so she sighed and bent down to grab the puck. 'I'll try and talk with Clyde later,' she mentally noted. 'Maybe he'll be a bit more honest about it.'

Meanwhile, Zach and Lincoln were heavily engaged in their Zombie Sniper battle, going back and forth in the scores until the final zombie fell, and the words WINNER appeared on Zach's screen.

"Dang it!" Lincoln sighed whilst Zach fist pumped in victory. "How are you so good at this game?"

"Link, it's zombies- if the game's got zombies, I know every trick in the book," Zach taunted. "It's like you with the Muscle Fish game."

"Yeah, I guess. Well, I'm gonna hit the dance battle machine. You fancy a game?"

"Nah, it's not really my game. I'll play you at something else in a bit, though."

"Okay." While Zach had a look for which machine he would use next, Lincoln made his way towards what was his favourite machine in the arcade, Dance Battle. He'd played it so often that he new every song on the machine, and had pretty much perfected the steps for his favourites. Stepping on to the machine, he began scrolling through the songs. "Hmm… I think I'll try this song for once."

While he selected the song, he didn't notice that Stella had stepped into the second dance pad. "What we dancing to this time?" She asked. Looking at the screen, she widened her eyes a little. "I don't think I know this one."

"It's not one of my favourites," Lincoln admitted, "but I fancied a bit of a challenge."

"Fair enough." He pressed play after she inserted her quarter, and while the loading screen appeared, she turned to the white haired boy. "Hey, is everything okay between you and the guys?"

He raised an eyebrow at her. "Uh, I think so? Why do you ask?"

"Something seems up with them, and I was wondering if you knew."

He tapped his chin in thought, then shrugged. "Can't say that I know what, but I'm sure it's nothing. Now, come on, the game's starting."

"Hmm…"

After an hour of good gaming fun and a pizza split between them, Lincoln and the others headed to Flip's for some Flippees, before going their separate ways to collect their things for the sleepover. As Lincoln walked through the front door to his home, he was met with the usual sounds of his sisters' chaos, with guitar riffs, arguments and an explosion greeting his ears. Ignoring this for now, he made his way upstairs, being careful not to get hit by the twins driving past in Lola's princess car. He walked into his room, where he saw his overnight bag hanging from his chair, so he grabbed it. He saw Bun Bun lying on his bed, and thought, 'not tonight, buddy. I don't mind having you with me at home, but not when the guys are around.'

Walking back towards the stairs, he saw the twins' car coming back towards him, so with a slight yelp, he leapt over it, unconsciously performing a split jump before landing firmly on his feet.

"Move it, Lincoln!" Lola yelled as she drove back into her room, causing him to roll her eyes.

"Hey, Lincoln!" Lynn called to him. "Where'd you learn to jump like that?"

He gulped, before thinking of an excuse. "Uh, well… I-I guess I remembered it from… your parkour lessons?"

She stared at him for a couple of seconds, making him worried that she didn't believe him, before she smirked and said, "if you think that's how parkour works, then I'm gonna have to reteach you what I know, little bro."

She chuckled, punching him on the shoulder while he nervously chuckled back. "Right! I'll, uh, keep that in mind."

"Sure thing! Once I'm given the all clear, I'll need to get back into it myself, so it'd be awesome to have you working out with me! Might even help you with dodgeball, you know?"

"Maybe, Lynn. Anyway, I'm heading to Clyde's. See you tomorrow, Lynn."

She waved to him before he made his way downstairs. Walking into the kitchen, he noticed it was empty, so he walked into the living room. Approaching the door to his parents' bedroom, he knocked on it.

"They're not in there," he heard Lori say from the couch, turning around to see his technophile sister texting away. "Dad was missing some stuff for dinner, so they went to the store."

'So that's why Vanzilla wasn't in the driveway,' he realised. "Well, can you let them know when they get back that I've headed to Clyde's."

"Fine."

He rolled his eyes, but still smiled. "Thanks, Lori."

She waved him off as he went out the front door, not taking her eyes away from her screen. After a few minutes of texting, she saw that she was receiving a call, and smiled giddily as she saw who it was, answering immediately. "Hey, Boo Boo Bear!" She answered. After her boyfriend replied, her smile fell a bit. "Lincoln? Why do you..." She began to scowl. "Oh, really?"