Chapter 24: Learning Curves and New Opportunities

The first week with a real team at Level Up Arcade didn't start with a bang.

It started with a coffee spill, a jammed token machine, and a DDR player accidentally unplugging the Street Fighter Alpha 3 cabinet with their elbow mid-match.

But despite the hiccups, for the first time in months, Ethan didn't feel like the entire weight of the arcade was on his shoulders alone.

There were hands beside his. Voices backing him up. Systems slowly forming out of the chaos.

And it felt good.

Growing Pains

Amanda's first official shift as Floor Lead started strong—until she nearly lost her voice trying to coordinate a group of middle schoolers fighting over the Time Crisis II machine.

"Token rotation!" she barked. "Two credits each, then switch!"

They didn't listen.

Then she whistled—loud and sharp—and the kids scattered like startled pigeons.

Later, as Ethan handed her a bottle of water, she smirked.

"Guess I need to print the rules bigger next time."

"You need a whistle," Ethan said.

"Don't tempt me."

—

Trevor got deep into diagnostics on his second day, setting up a mini bench in the back storage room with salvaged monitors and spare boards.

He labeled the table "The Tech Corner" with a marker and a piece of masking tape.

But halfway through rewiring the Metal Slug monitor, he shorted a connection and sent a pop! echoing through the arcade.

"No fire," he shouted quickly. "We're fine!"

Ethan leaned in. "You sure?"

Trevor gave a thumbs up with a slightly blackened thumb. "We're learning!"

—

James launched the arcade's new Loyalty Beta—a simple point tracker that let regulars earn token bonuses and small prizes. It worked beautifully.

Until one kid hacked it and gave himself 500 bonus points.

"Alright," James muttered, digging through logs. "Didn't know we had a baby hacker on the leaderboard."

"Can we recruit him?" Ethan asked.

"Probably. But first I'm patching the exploit."

Momentum Builds

By the end of the week, things were clicking.

Amanda established a daily shift log for team notes.

Trevor had fixed two long-dead cabinets that Ethan had nearly written off.

James ran a small poll through the loyalty app about what new snacks customers wanted—chips and sour candy won.

And Ethan?

He finally had breathing room.

Enough to start planning again instead of just reacting.

Carmen stopped by mid-week for a check-in, and after touring the floor and observing the team in action, she gave Ethan a quiet nod.

"They've bought in," she said. "That's more than just staffing. That's culture."

Ethan couldn't stop smiling.

A Quiet Thursday Afternoon

It was Thursday afternoon. The arcade was calm. A few regulars played quietly in the back. The scent of popcorn lingered from earlier in the day.

Ethan leaned behind the counter, organizing the new shipment of soda cans, when his phone buzzed.

Unknown Number – Local Area Code

He answered.

"Level Up Arcade—Ethan speaking."

A warm, older voice came through the line.

"Hi there, I hope I'm not catching you at a bad time. My name's Linda Ferris. I'm a teacher at Jefferson Middle School, just a few blocks over."

Ethan straightened up. "Not at all, Ms. Ferris. What can I do for you?"

"Well," she said, "we're having our end-of-semester reward day coming up next Friday, and we've had a bit of trouble finding something both fun and local. I heard from one of my students that you run an arcade again?"

Ethan blinked. "Yes. We've been back up and running for a few months now."

"Well, the students have not stopped talking about it since your tournament hit TikTok," she chuckled. "We were wondering… do you offer private bookings?"

Ethan's heart skipped.

He hadn't.

Yet.

"I… not officially, no," he said. "But I'm very open to the idea."

"We'd be looking to bring about 30 kids, chaperones included. After school hours. Probably 3:30 to 5:30. If you could offer flat pricing for the group and unlimited token access during that time, we'd be thrilled."

Ethan grabbed a notepad, scribbling furiously.

"Absolutely. I can pull together a quote and send it over by tonight."

"That would be wonderful," Linda said. "And just so you know—if this goes well, I know two other schools that would love to do the same. Local spots like yours? They're rare these days."

After they said goodbye, Ethan slowly lowered the phone, still staring at the number on the screen.

Then he turned toward the floor, where Amanda was coaching two kids on Street Fighter, Trevor was replacing a bulb in the Rampage marquee, and James was arguing with the loyalty app UI.

"Hey!" Ethan called out.

They all turned.

"We might have our first private event next week."

Amanda blinked. "Like… closed-door?"

"Thirty middle schoolers," Ethan said, holding up the notepad. "Two hours. Tokens flowing. We'll need schedules. Supervision. Maybe some prizes."

James leaned back. "This is it. Side quests are evolving."

Trevor grinned. "Better start stockpiling tokens."

Amanda cracked her knuckles. "Guess I'm on crowd control again."

Ethan looked around the arcade.

No longer a dream held together by tape and passion.

Now?

It was a team. A system.

A business.

And soon—an event venue.