Chapter 1
Sarah
It was a nice, brisk morning in Madison, WI. I had just woken up, and looked out the window. There was clear frost that covered the window and the ground, and it was a little foggy outside. I rubbed my eyes, and looked at the clock, 6:12, not that bad, I thought.
I changed into a t-shirt and leggings, and walked downstairs to the kitchen. I ate breakfast then went upstairs to brush my teeth, and comb my blonde hair into a ponytail. I slipped into my shoes and put on my coat. I walked to the door and grabbed my phone. I plugged in my earbuds and walked out the front door.
Ugh, Monday's. I thought. I don't want to go to school, but I guess I have to, I get to see my friends anyway.
I was at the bus stop, and went into Spotify, and clicked on my playlist. I loved listening to music in the mornings. It calms me down, and I feel like I go into a different world when I listen to music, I relax and I let go of all my worries for that moment that I'm listening to my music.
I got on the bus when it arrived, and swiped my card. I found an empty seat, and started playing my music, although that relaxing feeling didn't last long.
"Hey Sarah," said my crush, Luke.
He is so perfect, and really cute. His house is two blocks away from mine, but there is a bus stop closer to his house, so I don't see him at the bus stop.
"Hey Luke," I said, my heart racing a million miles an hour. I paused my music and took out my earbuds.
"What did you do this weekend?" He asked.
"I went to the basketball game, and hanged out with my friends, how about you?" I asked.
"Cool, I went to the basketball game too! I saw you on the jumbotron." He said, happily.
"Oh yeah," I said nervously. How could I forget. I was on that thing like five times. It was fun though.
"The team lost," I said, remembering Saturday.
"Yeah, that was sad, but hey, at least there was free ice cream," he said laughing.
"Yeah!" I said. I giggled too. Someone spilled their ice cream and a service dog walked past and started licking it off the floor. I was ordering ice cream at the time, and he was right behind me in line, so we both saw it.
"So, are you free to tutor me today?" He asked.
"Yeah sure," I said trying to calm down. Did I mention that I'm his tutor? Yeah, awkward I know. I'm tutoring my crush. Trust me it's really weird.
"Great, I need a little help in Spanish and Science," he said a little embarrassed.
He doesn't like saying that he needs help, he's one of the coolest kids in school, so he doesn't want the word to spread around, but he trusts me, and I'm happy he does, because I would never tell anyone else.
"Ok, my piano lesson was cancelled today, so I can help you for as long as you want," I said regretting the words that came out of my mouth. As long as you want? Really Sarah, do you want to scare him off?
He murmured something to himself.
"Did you say something?" I asked.
"Oh, um no," he said nervously.
The whole rest of the bus ride was awkward. But little did I know, it would be even more awkward later today.
It was the end of the day, and I texted my mom, "Tutoring Luke today, be home in a little while," and she replied, "Ok have fun!" Really Mom? I thought. Have fun? Ok then.
I didn't get off at my normal stop, I got off with Luke at his stop. Our stops are the last two that the bus route takes, and we're usually the only ones left on the bus when we get to my stop, unless either of us invite a friend over, or some people take our route then there regular one, which is rare.
We walked up to his house, and he unlocked the front door, with the key he always keeps in his backpack. We set our stuff down in the kitchen, took out our binders, and he grabbed two granola bars. We ran upstairs and sat down in the middle of Luke's room. We both took out our homework. We always work on homework together before I tutor him. I glanced up for one second, and looked back down at my math homework right away, because I saw Luke staring at me with his dreamy brown eyes.
I wonder why he is looking at me, I thought confused. He is the coolest boy in school. I am kind of popular, but not that much. I hang out with my friends that aren't that popular either, but they're my best friends. None of us would ditch each other for popularity, except for me. I once did, and it was a big mistake. By they forgave me. I don't know what I would do without them.
I glanced up a second time to see Luke still staring at me. We met each other's gaze and just stared at each other for what seemed like hours.
Luke
I stared at Sarah for what seemed the longest time. She is so beautiful. I know she says that she isn't popular, but she is. Every guy in school talks about her. She is mesmerizing, and any person would be lucky to be with her. I wanted to be that person so bad. I liked her, a lot.
She glanced up at me, and looked back down again. I saw her cheeks turn red. She is so cute when she blushes. I stare at her for longer. I can't focus on my homework, when I have this beautiful girl right in front of me.
She looks back up at me, and we meet each other's gaze. We stay that way for the longest time. I move forward a little, and she did too. We didn't move our eyes one bit. I moved a little closer.
"You have no clue how long I have wanted to say this." I said.
"I've known you forever, and I've been feeling this way for forever. I like you Sarah," I said my heart literally beating out of my chest. She just kept staring into my eyes. And finally, after what seemed like forever, she said,
"I like you too, Luke," she was blushing.
A huge smile spread across my face. She had no clue how happy I was to know that she felt the same way.
Chapter 2
Luke
We were staring at each other for what seemed like ages, until my mom broke the silence.
"Honey, are you home?" she called from downstairs.
Ugh, why did you have to come home now mom? I thought.
Sarah must have saw me roll my eyes, because she giggled. Her laugh and her smile are so beautiful.
"Yeah, I'm home mom," I shouted down the stairs. She must have seen Sarah's backpack because she yelled,
"Hi Sarah, how are you?""Good, just finishing homework," she yelled back.
We both laughed because that was something that we were not doing. We've just been looking at each other for the past fifteen minutes.
We finally finished our homework, and Sarah started tutoring me. This is always really embarrassing, but now it's even more embarrassing because Sarah is my girlfriend. I would rather have her tutor me than any other person in the school though.
Sarah
Ugh, this has to be embarrassing for Luke, I'm his girlfriend and I'm tutoring him. I thought. Maybe we could take a break. But what would we do? Oh wait, I got it!
"Hey, do you want to take a break?" I asked Luke, who looked pretty frustrated.
"Actually a break would be really nice, because I really do not understand this," he said, looking very confused at the piece of paper in front of him. It was full of math problems.
"Ok, you want to play some Wii U?" I asked him intently.
"Sure!" he said and we ran downstairs, past his mom in the kitchen, and went into the basement.
"What game?" He asked me.
"Mario Kart 8," I said. That was one of my favorite games, although I had a lot of favorites.
I wish there was a game with all the Mario games in it! I thought. That would be so cool! But little did I know that something like that could happen.
Luke popped the game into the console, and clicked the start button. He turned on the tv, and it showed the title screen, but then it suddenly went black.
"Um Luke, did you remember to take the other disc out?" I asked. He always has a disc in the console because he plays the Wii U all the time.
"Oops, I forgot, let me do that," he said. He hit the eject button and nothing happened. He hit it again and the console started making a buzzing sound. Then, the console was projecting the tv screen in the air, and it started sucking stuff into itself like a vacuum. Luke and I were the first to get sucked in.
Mario
I saw this weird projection in the sky of someone's basement, then I see two teenagers fall out of the sky. They landed on the ground with a thud. I ran over to them to see if they were alright.
"Are you guys ok?" I asked.
"Yeah, I think so," the girl said.
"Um… where are we?" the boy asked.
"You're in the Mushroom Kingdom!" I said, happy we had some visitors that weren't Bowser and his crew.
"Wait, WHAT?" the girl screamed in shock.
Chapter 3
Sarah
"Why are we in the Mushroom Kingdom?" I asked, a little frightened. My mom doesn't know where I am, we totally just disappeared in thin air, I thought.
"Um, who are you?" Mario asked a little scared.
"I'm Sarah, and this is Luke," I said. Luke waved.
"Nice to meet you! I think you two know who I am based on that you know that your in the Mushroom Kingdom," Mario said.
"Yeah. Nice to meet you too Mario," I smiled.
"Holy Yoshis, how do we get back to the real world?" asked Luke who looked as frightened as I did.
"Oh I know!" said Mario.
"How?" I asked.
"You have to go through each of these doors which will lead you to a Mario game, a different one in each door, and you must complete, well… win each game before going to the final boss, which is Bowser."
"WHAT?! No way am I doing that! Isn't there another way?" I asked frantically.
"Sorry I don't think there is another way. The only way to get out of the Mushroom Kingdom is a portal that is behind Bowser's throne. The only way to get to Bowser's castle is to win each game, then the doors that lead to his castle will open. Then you can defeat Bowser, save the Mushroom Kingdom, and get back to the real world. I have beaten all the games, because they're my games, but I can't defeat Bowser for some reason. I will help you with the games, and you'll help me defeat Bowser. What do you say?"
"Fine, we'll do it," I say.
"Are you out of your MIND?!" Luke asked me.
"No. We have played a lot of the games, so we know what we're doing. Besides, we also have our own personal guide," I say.
"You mean Mario?" Luke asked pointing at him.
"Yes, Mario, and Zoe," I say holding up my phone.
"I forgot, you had that in your back pocket!" Luke said.
"Um, who is Zoe?" Mario asked.
"She is my best friend and she has beaten a lot of the Mario games," I say.
"Oh, then she would be an excellent guide for you two as well," Mario smiled.
"Yeah. Listen Luke," I say facing Luke and Mario who were now standing next to each other. "Mario and Zoe are our only ticket out of here," I say.
"But what if we die? Will we be stuck here forever?" Luke asked, panic-stricken.
"I don't think you will, but be careful," said Mario.
"We will be. You ready to do this?" I asked both of them hopefully.
"We're ready," they said simultaneously.
We ran into Peach's castle, not expecting what was about to come. We went into the first door on the left that had a star on it, and in the middle of the star was a number one.
"Ok, I'm going to FaceTime Zoe," I said unlocking my phone.
"Sarah, what happens when you run out of battery?" Luke asked.
"I don't think your phone will run out of battery, it can be charged by coins, so as long we keep getting coins your phone will stay charged," said Mario proud of himself.
"Ok then, Let's a go!" I said and we all ran into the room, and dived into the painting.