It's been about two years since I posted my first story, the Mushroom High one, when I was 11. It received very good reviews. That was the fuel that kept me writing and helped my style develop. I just read over that particular story, and its sequel, and I swear, I could feel my brain die a little. Oh god. It was shit. Why I got good reviews I'll never know, but I do want to rewrite it. So I am. IT'S MY STORY, DAMMIT.
I combined some of the chapters because they were short. The story will take much different turns, and be a bit more adult than the original. I probably got some of the information more accurate, since I'm actually out of elementary school now.
Sunlight streamed through the blinds of the Mario Brothers' apartment. It shone on the clutter of their room, school supplies and various articles of clothing strewn about the floor. Two beds were on either side of the room.
One side held the younger, 16-year-old Luigi, tangled in his green bedspread. His side of the room held some posters of movies he'd seen and plays he'd been in, but not much else. On his nightstand, there sat a stack of books, his glasses, and an unknowingly broken alarm clock.
In the middle of the room, there seemed to be an invisible line where Luigi's space ended and Mario's began. The general color scheme changed from green to red. 17-year-old Mario snored away. The clock on his nightstand was unset, as he usually relied on Luigi's to wake him up. Video games littered the floor. There weren't many posters, just a few advertising his school's football and soccer teams.
As the light changed after a few minutes, it shined right into the eyes of the older brother, waking him up. He grunted, squinting, and almost rolled over and went back to sleep, but caught a glance at the clock. 6:47.
"Oh, shit!" He sprang up, grabbing a shirt that looked clean and a sock, but then dropped them both and lobbed a pillow at his little brother. "Luigi! Wake up!"
Luigi made a noise of protest, but Mario forced open one of his eyes and shoved the clock at his face. "Damn!" he exclaimed. Snatching his glasses, he scrambled for his book bag, throwing pencils and notebook paper into it. "Crap, crap, crap, why didn't I do this last night?!"
Mario picked up a shirt and a pair of pants. "What's up with your alarm?"
"It didn't go off, genius."
"Yes, I realize that," Mario said, stuffing a pair of boxers into his backpack, before realizing they didn't belong there and shoving them under his bed. "Man, I'm really out of it. I hate all the hours before 10:00."
"Hm," Luigi said vaguely, and when Mario looked up he was brushing his hair with so much concentration that his tongue stuck out.
Mario laughed. "God, you are such a girl."
Luigi grimaced. "What's wrong with wanting to look good?"
Mario put on his trademark 'M' hat and laced up his converses. "Well, why would you waste time brushing your hair when you can throw on a hat and be done with it?"
"We have had this conversation a total of..." He counted on his fingers. "... seven times, and neither of us have come closer to swaying the other. So, let's drop it."
Mario was about to retort, but caught sight of his clock. "Damn, we have to get going. The bus is going to be here soon."
They ran up to the bus stop just as it was pulling up to the sidewalk. The air brakes squealed as it stopped, and they hopped on, taking seats behind their best friends and favorite future princesses, Peach and Daisy.
Peach looked very official in her pink blouse and white skirt that reached her ankles. Her golden hair was pulled back in childish pigtails with a few hair clips holding them in place. Daisy sat next to her, wearing baggy jeans and a T-shirt with a large school on the front that read, Cheer up, it's only 6 hours long! Freckles dotted her nose, matching her auburn hair. She was chatting with Peach animatedly about whether or not the school serving mashed potatoes was a good thing.
The brothers sat heavily, panting from their sprint to the bus. Peach turned around. "Hi!"
"Hey, guys," Daisy said, raising her hand briefly.
"God, I'm so damn nervous," Luigi said quickly, playing with the frames of his glasses. "What if I get put into a class with Wally, or... or, someone just as crappy?"
"Better hope ol' Wally himself didn't hear you call him that," Daisy warned, referring to Waluigi, their cousin, who could get quite violent if provoked.
"There are worse things to worry about," Mario reasoned. "I mean, Professor Gadd teaches junior science."
"Who's Professor Gadd?" Luigi asked while Peach frowned nervously.
Mario, however, laughed. "Ah, Professor Gadd. So many memories. Broken glass, poison, the wonderful interior of the nurse's office..."
Luigi looked simply horrified. Daisy mussed up his hair and said, "Poor little accident-prone Weege."
"Welcome, class, I hope you had a nice summer." E. Gadd was a short man with very few wisps of white, curly hair. He pushed his thick glasses farther up his nose. "I also hope you like your seats, as they will be your seats for the rest of the year."
Luigi looked cautiously over at his ridiculously tall cousin, Waluigi. Rest assured, if he ever slipped up and called him "Wally," he'd be in the nurse's office in ten seconds flat.
"Erm, hello," Luigi said meekly. "Haven't seen you in a while."
Waluigi grunted.
"So, how's life been?"
"Look, if you're gonna be all buddy-buddy, this is gonna be a long year for you," Waluigi warned, slamming his hand on the table.
Luigi nodded, staring in the opposite direction. This was going to be a long year.
He felt something tug his hair from behind. "Weege!" He turned to see Daisy's mile-wide smile. Hm, maybe it wouldn't be so bad after all.
"English... 305... 305... Shit..."
Mario searched aimlessly for the correct room for his first period class, wondering how that particular room could have disappeared from last year. He watched the hands on his watch, and they seemed to be moving faster than normal. He bounded into the room just as the bell rang.
"Just on time, Mr. Mario," a middle-aged Toad wearing square glasses said. "Please take a seat." He gestured toward the rest of the room with a pencil.
Mario sat down next to Peach. "Hey," he greeted, throwing an English book onto his desk.
"Hey, what's up?"
"Just about as much that was going on on the bus," he replied, shrugging.
"Ok, class, in case you don't know, I'm Mr. McRish," the teacher announced. "Your first writing assignment is to tell me the best thing that happened over the summer."
Mario stared at his paper, and felt his mind grow progressively blanker with each passing minute. What was the point of these assignments, anyway?
He managed to write, Over the summer, I... when Mr. McRish told everyone to put their pencils away. "I will not be grading these, but would someone please read theirs for the class?" He scanned the room. "Mr. Mario?"
He gulped. "Uh, I didn't really finish."
"Oh, okay." He looked vaguely disappointed. "Peach, then?"
Peach read her paper. Mario glared at her. She was such a goody-little-two-shoes.
Luigi was just appreciating his new found luck, when Prof. Gadd said, "Luigi, will you help me with a demonstration?"
He had no choice. "Okay." He walked up to the front of the class as Gadd set a beaker, a box of baking soda, a bottle of vinegar and a container of hot sauce on the table. He quickly mixed up the baking soda and hot sauce, then handed the vinegar to Luigi.
"Luigi, if you would, please add half of that bottle."
He poured it into the solution. It bubbled and fizzed, flowed over the sides of the beaker, and finally exploded. Luigi was knocked to the ground, and the first few rows were splattered with the disgusting mix.
"As you can see," Gadd explained. "the vinegar and baking soda have a chemical reaction, while the hot peppers and preservatives in the hot sauce can make the results rather explosive. Miss Daisy, would you please bring Luigi to the nurse's office?"
"Roger that," Daisy said, helping Luigi to his feet.
Out in the hallway, Luigi looked down at his burned arms. "God, Mario wasn't kidding, was he?"
"I kinda saw it coming," Daisy remarked, laughing. "You okay?"
"Yeah, I'm fine." He kept staring at his feet as they walked down the hall. Daisy had the special ability to silence him. In fact, he'd been smitten with her since about fourth grade, when they met. She had instantly become part of their group, and offered relief when things got sappy between Mario and Peach. Yeah, he felt like he loved her, but who could really tell in high school?
Mario dropped his tray on the table, splattering a bit of applesauce on Peach's blouse. She made a noise of disgust, grabbing a napkin. "God, you're such a pig."
"Love ya too." He picked up his fork and began to eat. "Weege, I'm not gonna be home until late."
"Why?" Luigi asked.
"Soccer, football, baseball and basketball tryouts are all today," he replied, tapping his spoon on his tray in an anxious manner.
"Woah, how do you expect to make it to all of them?" Daisy inquired, looking shocked.
Mario shrugged. "I dunno. It'll happen, though. You guys should try out, too."
"Nah, I'm only trying out for one thing." Luigi stretched his fingers out in front of him, smiling broadly. "Drama."
Mario and Daisy laughed loudly and cruelly. Daisy almost choked on her milk. Luigi glared incredulously at them.
Peach sighed. "I'm trying out for drama, too, Weege."
"Only girls and gays try out for drama," Mario informed them, still chuckling.
"That's not true!" Peach argued, appearing angrier by the second. "Drama Club needs guys every year, and they never come, so Luigi's being brave by trying out!"
"The only time Weege has ever been brave was when he killed a spider when he was seven."
"Mario, shut up!" Luigi said loudly. He looked very hurt. Grabbing his tray, he moved to a table on the opposite side of the cafeteria.
Peach was silent for a long moment, before picking up her tray, too, and going to join Luigi.
Mario shrugged. "Some people can't take a joke." Daisy nodded and ate her food in silence.
Luigi and Daisy somehow ended up in the same class again in 7th period, math class. They worked on their problems, Daisy still feeling guilty about lunch. But, after a few minutes, they were talking and laughing like they were in grade school again.
"Wanna check answers?" Luigi asked her, holding up his paper.
"I'm not done yet," she replied, struggling through yet another problem.
Luigi looked over her shoulder. "You're doing it wrong."
"Yeah, I'm aware of that."
"Carry the one, and check your multiplication," he instructed, pointing at her errors.
"Oh," Daisy said, raising her eyebrows. "The only problem now is that I have to go back and do all the other ones over."
Luigi chuckled, checking over the last few answers on his paper. He rubbed the lenses of his glasses on his shirt, frowning when one smudge didn't go away. "Damn. I scratched my glasses."
"Why don't you just get contacts?" Daisy asked, as she had seen Luigi scratch and crack his glasses many times before.
"I've had these since grade school. I don't really have the money for another appointment." He looked wistfully at his glasses for a moment, them put them back on and picked up his paper. "So, you done yet?"
"Nope, not yet, hold on a moment."
Luigi sat still for a few minutes, thinking hard. Daisy was his friend, but he'd always wanted something more. Would she really accept it if he asked her on a date? And, did he even have the nerve to ask?
"Erm... Daize?"
"Yup?" She was still engrossed in her math.
"I'm gonna be free tonight, so... did you want to... do something?" He could feel his face getting warmer.
"Like, you, me and Peach? Yeah, that sounds fun."
"No." There was no backing down now. "I thought it could be just you and me... like, a date?" He didn't mean to end his statement as a question, but that's what happened.
Daisy's head jerked up. "Oh!" She had bright pink patches on her cheeks. "Oh... well..."
Luigi bit his tongue in embarrassment. Of course she wouldn't want to. It had been stupid to ask. Why had he even-
"Yeah! Sure, that sounds good." Daisy went back to working on her math like nothing had happened.
All other thoughts fluttered from Luigi's mind. He was left with the one happy, blissful moment when Daisy said yes.
She said yes!