10.
"Darn, I was so close to getting to the castle!"
Brighton groaned aloud and slammed his video game controller to the ground.
His Dad finally bought him a new system after finding out that Niles "accidentally" smashed it with a meat mallet. Scratch that, Niles actually bought it, because the money was taken out of his paycheck. So Brighton was sitting there, playing his All Stars: Super Mario Bros. 3 game on his Super Nintendo that he hooked up earlier to the living room TV. He had almost gotten to the castle in World 2, but he had fallen off the edge in one of the lands before it. Now he was out of lives and had to start all over, which made him furious. Not to mention, he was getting pretty bored playing by himself and he wished that all his friends weren't so busy, so that he could at least have something to do. He tried to think of who could play videogames with him.
Dad? Busy and no hand-eye coordination whatsoever. Niles? Butler's Association Meeting. C.C.? Oh, let's not even go there. Maggie? No…
Maggie would never take the time of day to play a video game with her little brother when she could be hanging with her friends or with some boy and Gracie well, she was another story.
Gracie? What was it that Gracie said this was? Oh yeah, a non-educational, brain-washing system that promotes lethargy and object dependence. What in the blue blazes does lethargy mean? I didn't even learn that in school! Stupid smarty pants sister!
He thought for another minute and realized he had forgotten another person who happened to become a very valuable addition to his family and to him. Fran! And just as he thought of her, there she was, walking his way. Did she know him or did she know him?
"Hey B., how's the game goin'?"
"It sucks. I almost got to the castle, but I lost all my lives and have to start all the way over! It's all because of that stupid Italian plumber!" explained Brighton in utter distress.
"Who? Danny Imperiali 's uncle?" joked Fran.
"Fran, I'm serious!"
Fran laughed, taking a seat next to him on the couch and grabbing his controller. After flipping through the item screen, she soon realized the problem.
"Wait, hold up! Boy, you don't even have any items! You at least need to have the whistle. If you fly up in the end of that fortress in World 1 you can get it. It can skip like half of these worlds. Let's start this game over and I'll show you how it's done. I know all the cheats."
"Whistle?" asked Brighton as if it was some foreign word that he knew nothing about.
"You have much to learn young grasshopper," responded Fran, patting him on the knee.
"Ok, then teach me so I'm victorious when I play against my friends! Oh, and I'm Mario," called out Brighton, taking the first controller that Fran had and giving her the second player one.
"That's fine, I like Luigi better. He's not short and fat and red. Not to mention, he jumps better. His feet go all crazy… or at least they do in one of those Mario games—anyway, let's go!"
Before they started playing, Brighton thanked Fran for playing with him.
"Hey, I can relate to your situation having no one to play with you. I remember wanting to play Candy Land when I was younger and my mother was eating, my father was watching TV (go figure, right?) and my sister was dating. I had to play by myself and that was no fun. Now c'mon, we have levels to conquer!" said Fran, punching the air and then elbowing him playfully in the arm.