Chapter Two: The Video Game Store

Author's Note: I am so glad all of my classes are in the afternoon. Why? Cause now I can stay up late doing homework that I should have been doing when I was writing this XD hehehe. But, I'll get it done, no worries. It's a simple project too. Gotta start doing 150 sketches that take between 30 seconds and 10 minutes to do. So it's really simple :3

Hope you all enjoy this chapter :P Reviews are loved and greatly appreciated!

I couldn't stay at home for long. After changing into my work uniform, and grabbing one of Mom's fiber bars, I jumped into my car and drove to work. Even though it had been the first day of school, I had been given two homework assignments. One was from Creative Writing, which involved the typical "write a 2 page report about who you are, what you like, etc."; the other came from Geometry, but it looked easy. The teacher had done a good job explaining how to do the equations before handing the assignment out. Lucky for me, since math of any sort is not my strong point.

Like branches on a tree, all of the stores were there because of the biggest one smack dab in the middle. Thankfully, everybody decided to take up the spaces in front of that store, giving me a wide variety of places to park without having to worry about some random kid jumping out in front of me.

Once I locked up my car, I went into the little video game store and clocked in. Three minutes early, excellent. For twenty minutes, it was the typical work day. Help the customers, help the boss restock, set up some displays for expectant titles.

And then, it all stopped.

I waited patiently for another customer, while organizing things on the side. Fifteen minutes and still nothing. God damn school days made business slow. During my wait I was able to get my math done and started writing my rough draft for Creative Writing. .

Much to my dismay, I was able to finish both homework assignments and still no one came in. Not even my boss asked for help. I scanned the array of games, grinning at the ones that looked good and gagging at the ones that were total crap. My eyes landed on an old, first generation Xbox game and unwanted nostalgia roamed in my head.

Nostalgia was killed violently by those homicidal thoughts I had mentioned earlier.

I scrunched my hands up into fists and went to my boss. "Hey," I said loud enough for him to peel his eyes away from the computer screen.

"Yeah?"

"Is it alright if I play a video game on one of the 360's?"

Sorry folks, but I was a total Microsoft girl. Sue me.

"Sure. Just make sure not to ignore customers," He resumed his game of Battle Field Heroes and I began searching the drawers for the perfect game.

Lucky for me, the store had it! After unlocking the little decorative cage that kept the store's Xbox 360 hidden, I plopped the game in and switched the demo mode off.

The Darkness. One of the most violent and ideological sensitive games out there. I had heard that it was almost rated Adults Only when it first came out.

The best part about that? There was no nudity or sex in this game. None. It was pure carnage and I loved it.

Ten minutes in and I had already cleared the first level. I knew this game like the back of my hand. Of course, it also happened that two customers walked in. I forced myself to press the pause button and made my way to the two boys.

They both looked like they were my age and they both looked handsome.

Sexy even.

One guy was nicely tanned and had scars that reminded me of the more recent Joker. Despite that, however, he looked like he was trying to be a professional weight lifter. At least that's what I thought, judging by how tight that long-sleeved shirt was on him. His long hair was a nice shade of brown and his eyes were a bright green. Kind of cool looking if you asked me. Oh, and he was freakin' tall! I wasn't even next to him yet, but I was sure I wouldn't even come up to his shoulder!

His companion was shorter than him, but was still a nice height. To be honest, he looked like an Italian mobster. His silver hair was slicked back, and his red-violet dress shirt was unbuttoned at the top, revealing some kind of religious pendant resting on his chest. The look was thrown off a bit by his blue jeans, but you get the idea.

For some reason, the mobster-wannabe looked familiar to me. Maybe I had seen him somewhere at school?

Anyway, I switched to business mode and gave them both a smile. "Is there anything I can help you two gentlemen with?"

The tan Joker scoffed at the word 'gentlemen' and shook his head. Okay, so calling them 'gentlemen' was probably overkill on the polite department; but I can't help myself. I was told to always be polite to people, especially when it came to work.

The mobster-wannabe looked at me with a quizzical look. He was probably trying to figure out whether I was a guy or a girl.

I had purposefully ordered a shirt size that was too big for me to avoid those "go make me a sammich" jokes. Seriously, they come up more often than you think.

Anyway, the guy seemed to have given up on deciding what my gender was before shaking his head. "Nah, we're just looking."

"Alright," I nodded, "If you need any help please ask." They ignored me and I went back to my game.

Very rarely will members of the male species need help finding something in a video game store. They know exactly what they're getting themselves into when they walk in.

The two started arguing about who had which game. It was something I couldn't help them with, so I continued playing my game. They got closer and soon I could feel one of them watching me play over my shoulder.

Luckily for them the game was starting to get really good.

In the game, there were five dead bodies and one demonic minion running around, pissing on their corpses. The minion made one of the boys chuckle. I went up to one of the dead bodies and pressed the right bumper on the controller.

Two snake-like demons and black tentacles appeared on either side of the screen. Looking down at one of the dead bodies, an option appeared and I pressed the necessary button to do it. Immediately, the snake on the right plunged into the man's chest and tore out his heart. The demon faced the screen and swallowed the muscle whole, the slimy sound effects making me shiver in delight.

I loved this kind of stuff. Even before the bad event I had a thing for gore and blood. When I was twelve, I would play Halo just so I could beat an alien's dead body and watch its blood splatter across the ground.

Pretty sick, huh?

Anyway, the mobster-wannabe spoke behind me. "What game is that?" He sounded excited and it made me grin.

"The Darkness," I began to explain what the game was about. He seemed uninterested about the storyline, so I told him about the more violent aspects of the game. "The graphics and targeting system is okay. But I play it for the gore." I moved out of the way and handed him the controller. "Go ahead and try it."

It took him a while to get used to the controls, but when he did he was hooked. I could hear him say, "Die bitch," under his breath. He even chuckled darkly when he had the snakes eat hearts.

When he completed an entire level, his friend stopped him. "Hidan, we need to get going soon."

Now I knew where I had seen the boy. He had been in my geometry class. Throughout the whole class I could hear him flicking paper-wads at his buddies in the back of the room.

Hidan rolled his eyes. "Fine," he mumbled, hitting the pause button and looking at me. "You got a copy of this game?"

I told him I would check. The computer showed one new copy and three used.

"New or used?" I asked.

He scoffed as if I had asked a stupid question. "New. Duh."

I pushed his comment aside and was able to find the new copy. His friend grabbed a game and controller off the shelves and placed it on the counter. "These too," he said.

"You gonna pay for those?" Hidan asked his companion, nodding at the two items.

The tan boy gave him a hard look for the longest time before Hidan finally made an annoyed clicking sound with his tongue. "Damn it Kakuzu. You're a real asshole, you know that?" He reached for his wallet hurriedly as I scanned the three items awkwardly.

I gave him his change once the currency had been exchanged. With a smile, I gave him the plastic bag that carried their new items. "Have a good day and I'll see you at school."

At this, they both gave me a weird look before leaving. Hidan didn't even wait until they had left the store before asking, "Do you know her?"

Kakuzu shook his head and Hidan scoffed.

"Weirdo."

The next day of school was not as awkward as the first day. Turns out, TenTen's locker was pretty close to mine, so we just talked until the warning bell rang. We even exchanged phone numbers and e-mail addresses.

I'll have to warn her about my abusive cell phone neglect at lunch.

First period came and went as did the second. Third period was geometry and it was then that I saw the silver-haired mobster-wannabe, Hidan. He was sitting with two others, one was a boy and the other was...either a guy or girl. I couldn't tell, but they both looked pretty good.

The one who definitely looked like a guy had red wavy hair. He looked bored with the conversation Hidan was having with the girl/guy, who was sporting long blonde hair.

Hidan must have cracked a joke of some kind, for the blonde threw his head back and laughed.

Yeah, definitely a guy.

The silver-haired boy looked at me as I passed and I couldn't help but smile at him. Maybe he would recognize me?

I sat near the front of the class and glanced over at him. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't a little bit interested.

Hey, I'm allowed to find men attractive aren't I?

Anyway, Hidan seemed to be having a hushed argument with the long-haired blonde. I couldn't hear what they were arguing about, but the red-head looked annoyed. He seemed to finally get fed up with it and stood up to leave.

I started taking out my textbook before noticing someone was standing by my desk. I looked up and saw the red-head staring down at me with the most bored look I had ever seen on a person.

"Are you a boy or a girl?" He asked.

The question baffled me for a moment before I was able to compose a reply. "Um...girl."

He returned to his expectant companions before saying, "She's a girl. Now shut up."

Good to know I'm able to deceive people with my baggy clothes and small breasts.

As I made sure I had all of my supplies for the class, I heard someone call out, "Hey girlie!"

I ignored the call. They must have been asking for someone else.

Someone whistled as if they were calling a dog over. "Hey! Video game chick!"

Now I knew they were talking to me. I looked around the room before I saw Hidan's hand motioning for me to come over. Surely he must have been talking to some other video game playing girl. Just to make sure, I pointed at myself and mouthed "me?".

"No, the other dyke in the Freddy Krueger sweater," He answered sarcastically.

I let out an aggravated sigh before walking over to him and his friends. On closer inspection, the blonde had electric blue eyes that popped out against his thick black eyeliner. At least, I think his other eye was blue since it was covered up by a long blonde bang.

Hidan's eyes were a nice amethyst color, making me think he had colored contacts. "So you were the one working at the video game store, right?"

"Yeah. Did you play that game yet?" I asked. Maybe I could strike a conversation with him about The Darkness.

He nodded, "Yeah, but I've got to ask you a really important question."

There I stood, expecting some game-related question. And then, the most dreaded thing happened.

"What were you doing out of the kitchen woman!" He said a bit too loudly. The blonde boy chuckled and I rolled my eyes. Should have seen that coming.

I stormed back to my desk and ignored their jeers for the rest of class.

Fucking bastard.