AT THE ARCADE
She had in fact wanted to take the chance of going to the arcade for the first time to play one of those latest video games that she had heard most of the boys in her class, talking about nosily in her class which seem to annoy her but inside her was curious to know how she would feel if she really played such games commonly meant for boys whom she believed often engage themselves in more frequently than most girls in her school does though she saw a few girls being caught playing video games during each lessons and getting severely penalized for it with equal punishment for most offenders that were guys.
Realizing that she was going to spend the rest of the day inside the arcade doing nothing but chattering with her friends and those they planned to meet at the arcade made her feel highly disappointed and downcast about the outcome of her disappearance from her house which she had hoped would be worth it if she leaves without taking any permission like she always does.
“You should have known that we don’t like engaging ourselves in such things”,
“And all of you consented to hide the truth from me”,
“Yes, we did but to be frank, we really don’t like playing games meant for boys”,
“Maria’s right, I hope you would understand”,
“Girls, let’s go inside if she doesn’t want to come with us. Even though she may be a princess from a rich family, we still don’t care”,
Christine commented sneering at Ruth who was completely dumbfounded at her friend’s sudden change of attitude which was starting to get on her nerves but she decided to hide her feelings of hatred and disgust at Christine’s remark.
“Come on, Ruth. Just forget about those silly games and come with us”,
Maria suggested getting a bit weary standing outside the arcade for a long time.
“I’m....”,
“Forget convincing her, girls. She’s all stuck up with those video games as if she were a boy or something”,
Christine said with a spiteful tongue once again which got Ruth even more upset but the others were still trying to convince her to comply with their demand to hang out with those of whom they were to meet rather than play video games with the other group of children that were mostly played by boys inside.
“Christine, don’t be too harsh on her. She really didn’t know what happened”,
“But she deserved it”
“Still let’s forget about this and let’s go inside. Time isn’t on our side”
“Fine, you can come with us if you want to but no games and that’s final”
Christine barked not too ashamed of some passersby hearing her loud scream. Ruth nodded meekly and couldn’t found the courage to walk away even though she felt highly irritated by Christine’s harsh words. They all went inside with Ruth feeling a lot gloomy and despondent than ever, the entire time they were enjoying the fun hanging out in the arcade. Ironically, those whom the girls apart from Ruth, had planned to meet were already there with their friends but they weren’t too focused on the girls and were having most of their attention on the video games the girls themselves wanted to avoid engaging themselves in. As for Ruth, her enthusiasms to explore the latest video games inside the arcade which she had heard her schoolmates talked about, have already left her. Only dejection and anger was written on her face when she was inside with her friends who were making most of the time they could barely enjoy talking with their boyfriends who weren’t too serious with their flirtation and she was horribly ignored by those she came with. The noisy boredom of arcade games being played at every corner inside the fairly dark hall kept her company whilst the others were desperately competing for attention from their male counterparts.
She had to excuse herself to the restroom to get away from the loud noises in the hall but most of all to leave her friends who left her stranded with no one to chat with.
“Thanks, sir”
She said to a baldheaded security man that showed her the way to the restroom in the busy hall fairly crowded with teenagers roaming around the place after she was done spending five minutes inside without having to use neither of the waste disposal system.
“Just doing my damn job”
He replied placing his hands akimbo as he and Ruth watched the customers especially the little children amongst them, engaging themselves at every arcade machines. Ruth watched along with him from the left corner of the hall, peering at most of the kids who were about her age whilst they obliviously kept to their playing and could hardly see her friends in midst of the rowdy hall utterly covered with the clinging sound of buttons been pressed here and there
“What a bunch of noisy teenagers!”
The security man exclaimed but the sound in the hall swallowed his voice. Ruth wanted to speak to him but something arrested his attention.
“Hey! Stop pushing those damn buttons!”
He yelled when he noticed some kids mishandling with the machine device and left Ruth stranded alone again like she was. Desperate for some company, she took a stroll in the midst of the crowd enthralled by the video games that kept them busy. As she walked through an aisle on the left wing of the hall with her hands tucked into the pockets of her hood anorak, she kept her gaze focused on the teenagers and didn’t quite see a two boys heading her way.
“Hey…Watch it!”
The bigger boy in front yelled and barely tried to dodge but he bumped into her. She could hardly stop herself from crashing into him and her dress got soiled by his ice cream. She gasped out in surprise when the icy cream stained her black sweater.
“Watch where you are going, knucklehead”
One of the boy said without apologizing.
“What have you done?”
“You got what you deserved”
The other kid standing behind the bigger commented. Ruth was fuming with anger by the time the two boys were done laughing at her. Her sweater was badly stained with the cold juicy cream and she was about getting her hands dirty wiping it off her sweater. Though she was furious at what they did, she was feeling a bit sad that her sweater got damaged and her mom would reprimand her for it. They were lucky people didn’t notice that an accident had occurred. Even the guard didn’t see it happen for he was busy handling some matters with some naughty children at the other side of the hall.
“I need an apology”
She boldly said after getting most of the stuff of her outfit with the back of her hand.
“For what?”
“You are the guilty one here so you’re not gonna get an apology from us”
“Instead, you gotta pay for the ice cream”
“No, I won’t. Not after what your ice cream did to my sweater”
“Don’t blame us, silly girl. You caused this mess by yourself”
“No, I didn’t”
“Oh yes, you did and now look how pale you look”
“You weren’t looking and it’s your fault the ice cream poured on your sweater”
“George, I think it’s best if we leave her alone and go buy another”
“No can do, Roy. This ice cream cost me thirty dollars and some cents, I ain’t gonna let her go scott free after paying for it”
“But George..”
“Keep quiet, Roy and allow me to deal with her”
He moved closely and took his hands off his pockets. Ruth looked pale at him for he was much bigger than she was and wondered how old was he but she daringly refused to step out of the way even when he made a move to hit her face with his palm.
“Now, give the money or else…”
He said bringing his hands closer to her face but an intruder whom had seen the boys harassing her came to her rescue. The intruder held him by the wrist and pushed his hands off. It was another bigger boy who wasn’t too scared of George and his chubby friend since he was about the same height with George who was aghast when he saw the intruder.
“Hands off, George”
“You know my name”
“Yes, I do. We attend the same school”
“You must be Sean”
“Yes, fat-face”
“Mind your business or–”
“or what, George? You better not make a scene here and go your way”
Sean glared at him with a weird kind of look that sent chills into the two boys before him whilst the security man who had coincidentally the boys about to constitute nuisance rushed to the scene.
“You three, what the hell is going on here?”
He questioned as he came along but all three boys were silent. Even Ruth had turned dumb the moment he appeared out of the blue.
“You better scram, all of you or I’ll be kicking you out the next minute you start fighting”
He warned with a hard stare at the two men and the boys willing obeyed while Ruth went back to the restroom to get herself washed off again refusing to tell the man what had happened. Then she went back to meet her friends who were wondering where she went but she didn’t mentioned anything to them in spite of them a bit surprised that her sweater got stained a little. When it was time to leave, the girls including Ruth all went their separate ways without following the boys who left first and returned home in the evening very dissatisfied and discontented with everything that transpired at the arcade but Ruth was the most dejected amongst them and she arrived late at the mansion than the others did without having to be transported by taxi cab of which she didn’t want to enter since she was low-spirited and rather disheartened about how her day went.