Artemis woke up by the bright light. The light made her dark black hair color look slightly lighter, almost brown. She took her time brushing her teeth and putting on her uniform, she would already be early enough. She brushed her hair and left it down. She made herself green tea and a piece of toast for breakfast, the usual morning. She didn't like change, so she never changed.
Artemis was early to her private school as usual. She quietly sat down and started studying for the test today. The teacher asked Artemis to bring journals to a class a hallway down, she didn't really want to but she was already ahead on her studies so she agreed.
As she carried the stack of journals and walked across the hall to give the current teacher in that class the notebooks he requested, she could here a few whispers "That's the boring girl I was telling you about" and "I'd never want to be boring like her". This was nothing new. There had been a few rumors about her for a while, because she wasn't into socializing as she was studying and trying hard in her school work. This didn't bother her, if she cared what people thought, she would talk to people more often.
She handed the teacher who requested the notebooks. He thanked her and continued scolding a delinquent. She sighed and walked back to her classroom to study again.
She sat down and as she picked up a book to study for the test that would happen that day, a few girls came up to her to socialize. They thought she was being shy and kept talking to her, even though she just wanted to study. She was a bit of a loner. The group of girls smiled and laughed at some joke one of them made. Artemis however wasn't rude and acknowledged them.
"After school, do you want to go for cake with us?" One of them asked Artemis.
"Sorry, I have things to do." Artemis immediately rejected. The girls smiled and didn't let it bother them.
Artemis started studying as they were talking to one another. Class started and they went back to their seats. Artemis sighed a sigh of relief. She was beyond ready for this test. She was handed the test and quickly got to work.
After she was done with the test, she waited there quietly for the other students to finish. She started think of a video game she stayed up late playing… She quickly shook her head. She is trying to break the habit of playing video games so often. She pulled out a book and started reading.
"Times up, pass up the test." The students all sighed and there was slight murmuring of how hard it was. Artemis felt accomplished and was ready for the next test… Moments like these are probably the most emotion she showed in a day.
She finished up the school day and started to head back home.
3:33
Leo stared at the clock of her history class room. It seemed to be moving slower and slower each second that ticked by. Leo squinted at the clock as her teacher droned on about history. The entire day was BEYOND boring, and it wasn't helping when Mr. Shutori's monotone voice never stopped. Leo pulled her bright red eyes away from the clock and pretended like she was actively engaged in the long lecture. Maybe if she looked away the time would pass by faster. After what seemed like twenty minutes, Leo looked back up at the clock.
3:34
"Argg!" Leo whispered intensly, but quietly. She tugged her big read scarf over her face, not caring any more whether she looked like she was paying attention or not. Her teacher probably wasn't even looking at the students anyway. Instead, he was so engrossed in his own monologueing that his back was to the students, while he was scribbling all over the black board.
There was ten minutes left in class and it seemed those ten minutes were going to last ten years, until the overhead speaker broke the endless boredom.
"KSSH- Yo students! It's me, Principal Landon!" Their principal was one of those principals. "I know how you all are probably super excited for tonight's football game against our rival school, Greenville High's Perky Peanuts. Boo! Come on, let me hear it!" Nobody made a sound, but you could here one loud kid's 'BOO!' from down the hall. "Haha! Ah, you guys are hilarious! So, out of excitment for tonight's game, I'm letting out everyone ten minutes early. Go Nasty Nats! Woo! You are dismissed. -KSSH"
THANK GOODNESS. The empty words from her teacher were slowly choking Leo to death, and her saving grace was none other than an over enthusiastic principal. Every kid in the class rushed out the door, including Leo who wrapped her scarf over her neck while running, as they all made their way to the buses.
But Leo was one of the few and the fortunate that skipped pass the bus line.
Leo was headed toward the parking lot.
Yes, she not only had the high status of being able to drive, but she even had a car that Leo could take with her. Very few had such a glorious privilege, and the few that did were at the top of the social foodchain. Leo had been asked left and right for rides, and she had the power to grant their wishes. Driving was a great power. And with great power, came great responsibility.
Leo got in the car, and drove by the unfortunate souls that rode the bus. She unrolled her window in a pitying fashion to all those meloncholy faces, watching her with a longing desire.
Speeding up once she left the school zone, Leo made her way back to her house. She ran through her door with her scarf trailing behind her, threw her bag in the hall, and called out to her mom, "GONNA GO BUY A GAME, BE BACK IN A FEW!"
Before she could hear any protests from her mom or younger siblings, she ran straight back out the door and to her car.
Artemis sat down in her organized living room. She had prepared herself green tea and was reading what was going on in her local area. She blew on her steaming tea and glanced over at the game console across the room. She looked away remembering how addicted she can get to a videogame.
Her blue eyes reflected the sunlight coming in from her windows. She was a fan of natural light, especially moonlight. She leaves her curtains unclosed the majority of the time.
She started on her homework with full focus. She kept glancing at her game console, but wouldn't acknowledge that she wants to play videogames. She made herself another cup of green tea and went back to her homework. Artemis would take her time and wouldn't rush through her homework, knowing how things like this take time.
She finished her homework and put it away in a safe place. She sat at her table, sipping her green tea for a bit. She finally came up with a few excuses of why she should play video games. She glanced over to the game console again. Artemis sighed and remembered she already finished her latest videogame she bought. She threw on a dark jacket because it was cold outside.
She walked outside and started a slow pace to the video game store. Artemis walked around for a bit before checking the time on her phone, hoping she won't have to change up her schedule for this video game. She likes going to bed at a certain time.
Artemis paused for a bit. Was she lost? She had no idea where she was. She remained calm and just kept walking.
She passed by a shop that sort of stood out to her. Artemis stood in front of it, sort of studying it. She decided to walk in to see why it stood out to her. It was almost completely silent besides her own rustling. She paused, wondering if it was actually open or if she just walked into a closed store. Artemis was about to walk out before something caught her eye... A convenient videogame named 'Super Smash Bros.' . She walked up to it before being startled by the employes loud voice. "You interested in it?" He said. It was an old man. She stared blankly at him. He looked almost dead so she ignored him. "You know, It's on sale." He said with the same happy peaceful expression. She picked it up and put it on the check out counter made of wood. Artemis could tell this was a very old shop. She thought it was cute.
"Will this be all?" He asked with a slightly different expression. She looked around the shop for a bit. She was the only one in here, so she didn't think he would mind if she looked around a while more.
Artemis came across a counter of books. They all seemed a bit interesting to her. She chose the one that she decided to read after her homework tomorrow. After putting it on the check out counter, he checked out the video game and book, still with the same expression. This shop seemed interesting to her. He handed her the items she bought and said "Have a nice day.". She nodded and left the store.
Leo left Gamestop's parking lot dejected and somber. All week she had been saving her money for the new Super Smash, only to get to Gamestop and find out the price went up. A big sigh left her melancholy soul, as she began driving around aimlessly out of mourning. Her eyes drifted from shopping center to shopping center as she pulled her scarf over her mouth, until she finally decided to stop at a small Walmart just barely at the edge of town.
This area of the town was the kind of area that was decent, but nobody lived there. It wasn't too broken down or filled with gangs or anything, but it was like only a few old people couples and a weird hermit would live in a place like that. Surprisingly, there was an abundance of small shops surrounding and/or connected to the Walmart. Not-so surprisingly, they were all really weird or awkward looking. There was a music shop with a giant red guitar sign that read, "Rock n' Buy!", a "Jimmy and Son's Fish Shop with Catering", the usual "Nail Salon" and "Subway", and lastly a strange looking pawn shop from accross the street.
Leo parked her car and looked towards the other shops. She was so tempted to go straight into the Walmart and blow all of her hard earned money on Chocolate Oreos, but then felt her curiousity peek when she looked at the pawn shop window. The sign on the outside stated, "From Sport Balls to Painting Eisels to Video Games, We Probably Might Have What Your Looking For!"
The blonde thought for a moment, before saying aloud, "'Probably Might' is better than 'Definetely Too Expensive', right?"
Leo made her way to the shop, and was about to open the door when it swung open for her. Leo stepped aside when a girl with long black hair seemed to want to leave. "Go ahead." Leo said before the girl brushed past, clutching her newly purchased item.
The first thing Leo noticed about the shop was the smell. If you made a candle scent of freshly-done laundry; then added strong perfume, old people, and (strangely enough) butter cream, that's what hit Leo's nose. Leo first crinkled her nose, but soon found the smell slightly pleasant. The room's actual look was very different from it's smell. It was dark, dank, and mysterious all over the place. The entire room had a low, dark purple tint that made it seem even more cryptic and obscure.
Leo wondered the shop for a bit while playing with the ends of her scarf, until she saw an old man at the counter. He was smiling straight towards her direction, nonmoving. At first Leo thought he was dead, but then she took a step to the side and realized his smile was following her. Though she thought it was a bit creepy, Leo smiled anyway and said, "Hi there!"
"Well, hello! What are you looking for?"
Leo put her hands behind her back, "Well, I was wondering what kind of video games do you have? Preferably Nintendo."
The old guy's expression didn't change, "You're in luck! I just about sold my second to last nintendo game. Is, uhm," The old guy pulled out a disk from the counter and squinted to read it, "Super Smash Brothers okay?"
Leo beamed. "Oh! That's exactly what I was looking for!"
"Really?" The man smiled in a way that would usually make someone question the credibility of his words, but Leo was too excited to notice. "What a coincidence!" He scanned the disk and said, "While this be all?"
"Yes, please!"
The man bagged her items, "Well, then have a nice day then!"
Leo snatched the bag and said while running out the door, "Thanks! You too!"
Artemis could easily find her way back to her apartment.
She quickly went into her house, slightly showing her excitement by slightly smiling. Her habit of not showing emotion had become apart of her personality. She made herself her favorite calming green tea and read the instructions for the Nintendo game. She sat for about an hour reading the manual. After reading it she put the CD into the console and started up the videogame. She was a real closet nerd when it comes to videogames.
She started slowly getting consumed into the world of Nintendo. Her light eyes reflected the blue light screen. She didn't think of anything but who to kill next. She would hardly get discouraged when she died by some sort of antagonist, knowing that the people who made the video game wanted it to be hard. She held her controller tight, she didn't care about school tomorrow or the next test, or her schedule. In fact, she knew before hand that she would be consumed into 'Super Smash Bros.' easily. She loved video games far too much to stop herself from playing it.
After a good amount of time, A white box popped up on the screen. "A new challenge has arrived: Do you accept?" Artemis read aloud. she paused. Why not? She went ahead and pressed 'Yes'.
Artemis blacked out.
Leo rushed into and through her house, saying, "I GOT A NEW GAME AND I'M GONNA GO PLAY IT NOW!"
"Wait."
Leo stopped half-way up the stairs. She backtracked a few steps until she was infront of her slightly annoyed mother. Leo began playing with the ends of her scarf nervously. "... Yes?"
"Didn't I tell you to take out the trash when you were to come home from school?"
"... Yes?"
"And yet you ran out the door, yelling frantically that you were going to go out right as you got home?"
"... Yes?"
"Well?"
Leo slumped over, "I got it." She sluggishly walked over to the kitchen and grabbed the nasty trash left out, and dragged herself to the curb to dump it. When she was finished, she rushed back inside and asked to her mother, "We good?"
Her mother nodded, and Leo continued her sprint up to her room where she could play her new game.
"Dinner will be ready in twenty minutes!" Her mother called up to her, but Leo had already closed the door.
Feeding the disk to her console, Leo started up her new game and played zealously. It was everything she had hoped for, with all of her favorite characters like Link, Kirby, and Samus. All of the stages were really fun and interesting, and the gameplay was very smooth! After some time of playing, a sudden window popped up. Leo tilted her head and read aloud:
"A new challenge has arrived: Do you accept?" Leo smiled boldly before clicking 'A'.
Leo blacked out.
Heyyyyy! Look at that, it's a Prologue! It's Jelly here and I wrote the Leo scenes, while the amazing Boba wrote the Artemis scenes. I hope you enjoyed this lovely beginning!
Artemis: I know I didn't.
Leo: Pssh, who ends a prologue with some nasty 'black out' cliff hanger! And I thought I asked for an eyepatch, not a scarf?
Quiet you! Next chapter, we'll see what happens to the wonderful Artemis, all written by Boba! We'll probably switch back and forth between chapters, except on the important ones which we will collaborate together.
Artemis: Uhm, can I not be in the next chapter? I have a test tomorrow. Also, I saw a couple gramatical errors on-
Tune in for the next chapter! Thanks so much for reading, and leave a review so we can see how we're doing!