Gordo's realization of why he had never liked Ethan hit him hard. So he was jealous of him. So he wished that Lizzie could like him in the same way she liked Ethan. So that's why he had always felt the need to make comments to Lizzie about how stupid Ethan was. What now? Miranda wasn't that much of a help. Gordo wished that she had never brought the thought up. 'What good is it to give a diagnoses,' he thought, 'if you don't have the cure. ' Gordo didn't know what to do, but he knew he didn't want to stay at home all day. He grabbed as handful of change off his dresser and headed to the mall.
Gordo went straight to his favorite spot in the mall- the video arcade. Whenever he went to the mall with Lizzie and Miranda, he always seemed to come here after he had had enough girl talk. Even though they were his two best friends in the world, sometimes all their girl talk was just too much, especially at the mall .
The mall was pretty empty, and the arcade had practically no one in it. Just one person on some sort of virtual reality game. Armed with a pocketful of quarters, he went straight to the Space Attack machine and began to attempt to rid the galaxy of evil alien robots.
Right after he had completely destroyed the alien mother ship, he heard a familiar "Awesome!" come from across the arcade. Gordo peered over to only person in the arcade take off his VR helmet, revealing none other than Ethan Craft himself. This was the first time that Gordo had seen him since he had talked to Miranda and was apprehensive about confronting him. Before he could, Ethan saw him at the Space Attack game. "Hey, Gordon! How's it goin', man?"
"Hey. Not bad. Kinda boring."
"I totally get what you're saying. It's been like that with me too. It's like nothing's going on here. No ladies or nothin'."
"Yep." Gordo attempted wanted to avoid the subject of 'ladies', as Ethan refered to them as, since he feared that this would shift the conversation to Lizzie. Gordo thought it would be uncomfortable to talk about his feelings about Lizzie to her crush, so he attempted to change the subject with some small talk. "So, uh.., what's this game you were on?"
"Oh, dude, you've got to try this. It's, uhh.. vir-tu-ral snow-board-ing." said Ethan, sounding out the words on the sign above the game. "It's the best."
"Snow boarding, huh? I don't know about that. I've never been snowboarding. I probably wouldn't be any good at it."
"So what? You've never fought with aliens either. You haven't, right?"
"Uhhh... no." Did he really just ask that? Maybe Miranda was wrong. Maybe Gordo wasn't jealous. Maybe Ethan was just an idiot.
"Well, than you should be real good on this game too. Besides, it's all fake. You can't get hurt or killer or anything, I think."
"Well, that's reassuring." Gordo said in a slightly sarcastic fashion.
Ethan showed Gordo how the game worked, where to stand, and then put the VR helmet on Gordo's head. "See, you look in this thing to find out where you're going. And what you see if put up on that TV thing in here so everyone that isn't in your head can see where you're going."
Only a little confused by Ethan's less-than-perfect explanation of the game, Gordo replied back with "All right. Let's try this thing out." Ethan put the coins into the machine and Gordo started the game.
All went pretty good at first. Gordo did a better job that he thought and was pretty pleased with himself. Ethan watched the game on the screen for a quite while, or at least he did until he spotted a penny sitting on the ground just a few steps away. Suddenly his mind went blank at the mere sight of the shinny object and decided to pick it up. Walking toward the coin in a daze, Ethan felt his foot get stuck on something. He gave his foot a yank and, unknowingly, pulled a wire right out of the machine in the process.
As soon as he had gotten the penny up off the ground, Ethan heard a terrible scream. Quickly snapped out of his daze, he noticed that the screen above the machine was bright and nearly blinding white. Then he noticed Gordo flailing wildly, screaming "Get it off!!! Get it off!!! and attempting to pry the VR helmet off his head. After a while, Ethan figured out something must be wrong.
Gordo went straight to his favorite spot in the mall- the video arcade. Whenever he went to the mall with Lizzie and Miranda, he always seemed to come here after he had had enough girl talk. Even though they were his two best friends in the world, sometimes all their girl talk was just too much, especially at the mall .
The mall was pretty empty, and the arcade had practically no one in it. Just one person on some sort of virtual reality game. Armed with a pocketful of quarters, he went straight to the Space Attack machine and began to attempt to rid the galaxy of evil alien robots.
Right after he had completely destroyed the alien mother ship, he heard a familiar "Awesome!" come from across the arcade. Gordo peered over to only person in the arcade take off his VR helmet, revealing none other than Ethan Craft himself. This was the first time that Gordo had seen him since he had talked to Miranda and was apprehensive about confronting him. Before he could, Ethan saw him at the Space Attack game. "Hey, Gordon! How's it goin', man?"
"Hey. Not bad. Kinda boring."
"I totally get what you're saying. It's been like that with me too. It's like nothing's going on here. No ladies or nothin'."
"Yep." Gordo attempted wanted to avoid the subject of 'ladies', as Ethan refered to them as, since he feared that this would shift the conversation to Lizzie. Gordo thought it would be uncomfortable to talk about his feelings about Lizzie to her crush, so he attempted to change the subject with some small talk. "So, uh.., what's this game you were on?"
"Oh, dude, you've got to try this. It's, uhh.. vir-tu-ral snow-board-ing." said Ethan, sounding out the words on the sign above the game. "It's the best."
"Snow boarding, huh? I don't know about that. I've never been snowboarding. I probably wouldn't be any good at it."
"So what? You've never fought with aliens either. You haven't, right?"
"Uhhh... no." Did he really just ask that? Maybe Miranda was wrong. Maybe Gordo wasn't jealous. Maybe Ethan was just an idiot.
"Well, than you should be real good on this game too. Besides, it's all fake. You can't get hurt or killer or anything, I think."
"Well, that's reassuring." Gordo said in a slightly sarcastic fashion.
Ethan showed Gordo how the game worked, where to stand, and then put the VR helmet on Gordo's head. "See, you look in this thing to find out where you're going. And what you see if put up on that TV thing in here so everyone that isn't in your head can see where you're going."
Only a little confused by Ethan's less-than-perfect explanation of the game, Gordo replied back with "All right. Let's try this thing out." Ethan put the coins into the machine and Gordo started the game.
All went pretty good at first. Gordo did a better job that he thought and was pretty pleased with himself. Ethan watched the game on the screen for a quite while, or at least he did until he spotted a penny sitting on the ground just a few steps away. Suddenly his mind went blank at the mere sight of the shinny object and decided to pick it up. Walking toward the coin in a daze, Ethan felt his foot get stuck on something. He gave his foot a yank and, unknowingly, pulled a wire right out of the machine in the process.
As soon as he had gotten the penny up off the ground, Ethan heard a terrible scream. Quickly snapped out of his daze, he noticed that the screen above the machine was bright and nearly blinding white. Then he noticed Gordo flailing wildly, screaming "Get it off!!! Get it off!!! and attempting to pry the VR helmet off his head. After a while, Ethan figured out something must be wrong.