A somewhat lengthy A/N: Thank you to ViVi89, RCIB and SariSpy56 for reviewing. :) You guys really have no idea how much it means to me when you review my stories. I've gotten excited when I see just two reviews; I really love knowing what you all think of my stories :)

Also, I need to ask you guys something. Do you want this to be longer or shorter? I kinda wanna make it longer so it doesn't seem like everything happens too fast, but I would need a bunch of fillers in between. I also have a lot of awesome ideas for the sequel (yes, this is going to be a series. I was planning on it since I started the fanfic, but now it's official! :D EDIT: No, it's not. I may make a sequel eventually, but for now, I kinda wanna move on to other fanfics).

Enjoy! :)

"You did what?!" I practically yelled. "Howard, how could you do that? And you didn't even have the decency to tell me?! I can't believe you! Why would you do that?"

"Hey, look on the bright side. I'm telling you now."

I tried to keep calm. "So, what did she say when you did?"

Howard raised an eyebrow. "Do you really wanna know?"

My patience was wearing thin. "Yes, Howard," I said through clenched teeth. "I really wanna know."

"Well alright Cunningham." Once Howard told me what she said, I had to literally bite my tongue to stop myself from shouting every swear word I had ever heard.

"Howard…" I clenched my fists, trying to keep my cool, but Howard could be so damn exasperating sometimes. Often infuriatingly so.

"Cunningham?"

"What?"

"You're not gonna kill me, are you?"

"No, Howard. I'm not going to kill you." Though to be completely honest I kind of wanted to. "I'll see you later, Howard," I said coldly as I left his room.

"Hi, Randy," Hannah, who was sitting at the counter, chirped on my way out. I ignored her and left the house. Heidi was outside, probably supposed to be mowing the lawn, since there was a weed whacker by the garage but instead she was texting.

"Bye, Sandy," I heard her mutter as I made my way to my bike. That did it.

I whirled on her. "Damn it Heidi! Would it kill you to remember my name once? JUST ONCE?!"

Heidi was stunned. "You mean your name isn't Candy?" she asked in genuine shock. I made an angry noise* and walked to my bike, hopping on and pedaling at the same speed as the first day of school, when I needed the Nomicon and had to get home and back before I was gone so long that it would look suspicious. Right now, I just needed to go home. I wanted to be anywhere but where my former best friend was.

I felt the wind across my face. It was really windy, and I was going really fast, so it was kinda starting to hurt. It felt as if the wind was slapping me in the face, but I didn't care. A week ago I would've slowed down, but not today.

When I arrived at my house, I put my bike in the garage and went straight to my room. I opened the door, slamming it behind me. "Stupid Howard…" I muttered.

"I'm guessing it didn't go well?" I turned to see Rachel sitting on the couch. Man, I completely forgot about her!

"Oh, hey Ray. No, it didn't." I sat down next to her. "Not at all. I mean, I just can't believe he did that! Telling the one person he shouldn't have…"

"What do you mean?"

"You know what? Forget I said anything."

"Randy-"

"Just do it, ok?" I said hotly, not wanting to talk about it. "I met you four honkin days ago! I've already told you enough!"

(Rachel's POV)

I was stunned. I mean, I try to comfort him and he pushes me away? What gives?

(Randy's POV)

I knew I had upset her. She was completely silent. I sighed. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean it like that- actually I didn't mean it at all. I'm just upset."

"It's fine."

(Rachel's POV)

Actually, it wasn't fine. I was still kind of shocked, but I guess that's what I get for prying into his personal life.

All of a sudden, Randy grinned as if he got an idea. "I know how I can forget about it, though."

...

Randy opened the door. It was kind of dark inside, and it was somewhat busy. There were some teenagers, mostly boys, playing arcade games. "What is this place?"

"Greg's Game Hole. It's an arcade-slash-game store-slash-food hole."

"Food hole?"

"Over there." Randy pointed to a spot marked, ironically, 'Greg's Food Hole'.

"I see. Do you hang out here often?"

"Yeah, usually with Howard…" I saw the sadness return to his eyes for a second, but then he shook it off. "But let's forget about that. I want to show you something," he said excitedly, tugging me along in the direction of the games. "Look up there," he said, pointing to the posters above the games. I noticed that he was first place… for every single one of them.

"Wow. You're awesome!"

He smirked. "I know."

I rolled my eyes and playfully punched him in the arm, grinning.

"Ow! That hurt!"

"Really? Are you ok?"

He grinned. "Gotcha."

"What? You trickster! I'll get you for that," I said, feigning anger.

His smile faded. "Really?"

It was my turn to smirk. "I just did." We held each other's stare for about half a second before bursting out in laughter.

"You wanna play one? I mean, you'll never beat me, but-"

"You're on! Which game?"

Randy shrugged. "Since it's your first time, I'll let you pick."

"Alright, how about that one?" I pointed to one in the corner marked 'Future Time Radioactive Zombie PUNCH!'

As we made our way over to it, Randy smirked. "That's my best one."

My eyes widened. "Well, then maybe we should-"

"Too late, you chose it. Come on, I'll go easy on you."

"Really?"

"Nope." My expression deflated. "Just do your best, I'm sure you'll be fine. After all, you did beat Howard in Grave Puncher." Encouraged, I nodded and Randy inserted coins into the machine and the screen lit up, signaling that it was time for us to begin the game.

(Randy's POV)

Rachel was pretty good and so far she was holding her own. It was likely she used to be a gamer, though with her looks she could be popular. But she didn't really seem like the type to care about appearances, or status for that matter.

We were about halfway through when Rachel started to have trouble. I mean, she had already lost a couple of lives here and there but this was different.

(Rachel's POV)

It wasn't exactly an easy level. Focus, Rachel, I thought to myself. I glanced over at Randy. I couldn't believe Stella had rejected him all those years ago. I mean, why would she? Randy's cute and funny, not to mention he has a killer smile that makes my heart melt when it's directed at me…

My thoughts were interrupted by a noise in the game. My jaw dropped when I looked at the screen. GAME OVER, it read, and my player had been zombified.

"NOOO!" I shouted. "Sorry, that was loud." I grinned sheepishly. "I know, I'm not exactly the best."

"Maybe not, but that was pretty good for your first try. Did you know what Howard got on his first try?" I shook my head. "1057 points."

"Are you kidding? That's a terrible score! Well at least for this game."

"Nope, not kidding. You'll get better, and that was good for a first try, don't be so hard on yourself."

"Yeah, I see that now," I responded.

"You wanna go get something from the Food Hole?" Randy asked.

"Sure." We strolled over to Greg's Food Hole, and on the way I saw a game that looked broken. It was titled Jack Hammer. I looked at the high score poster above it, and to my complete and utter shock, Randy wasn't first place, Howard was (though Randy was second).

I nudged him. "What's that about?" I asked, pointing to Jack Hammer.

"Oh… it's a long story that I'd rather not discuss here."

I cocked an eyebrow. "Too embarrassing to tell the story of how Howard totally p'owned you?" I teased.

"No, it's something… else."

I rolled my eyes, smirking. "I'm sure it is, Randy."

"Being serious, Rachel." At that moment I knew he was, since he only called me Rachel when he was serious.

"So what should we get? They have French fries, cheeseburgers, soft pretzels-"

"Get the nachos. They're the cheese."

"Funny."

"Oh, wow. I didn't even realize I did that."** He turned to the counter and ordered. "Two orders of nachos, please."

The cashier nodded and got two out of the glass case and handed them to us. "$4.88 please." Randy stuck his hand in his pocket and pulled out a 5-dollar bill, handing it to her and taking the nachos, passing one of the plates to me. We sat down at a table and began eating.

"Wow, these are good."

"Told you. So what do you think?"

"Of what?" I asked, confused.

He shrugged. "Everything. School, Greg's Game Hole, the house, Howard…" Randy paused. "Me…" he murmured, obviously not meaning for me to hear that, then picking up another nacho and popping it.

"It's great. All of it. Especially the nachos." I smirked.

"Ha ha, very funny," he replied jokingly.

"I'm serious," I said with mock seriousness. "These nachos are absolutely the best thing that's happened to me since I came to Norrisville."

Randy laughed. We continued our banter as we ate our nachos, and then we went back to Randy's house, where we found his mom on the couch watching the weather.

She turned around when the door slammed shut. "Hi sweetie! Hi Rachel. How was school?" she asked, getting up.

"Good," Randy replied. "You know, for school."

"Yep," I agreed.

"Well that's good. So what do you want for dinner? We're not having it until at least 6:30, but I want to know in advance."

Randy and I exchanged looks and shrugged in unison. "Not a clue. If you need us we'll be upstairs," Randy responded as we went up the stairs and in the direction of his room.

*Remember in Ninja Camp when Howard said, "Smoke bomb, Cunningham. Smoke bomb" and Randy made that mad noise? Yeah, that's the one.

**Get it? Nachos, cheese… ok, I'll stop now. XD

So what do you think of the story so far? Questions, comments, compliments and constructive criticism are all accepted :)