Chapter 11: The Arcade
Disclaimer: I Don't Own Ben 10 Or Any Of The Characters. I Don't Own The Rights To Nathan Black Or Any Associated Characters, The Rights Go To annihalator2015
Disclaimer: This Series/Story Has Nothing To Do With The Ben 10: Ultimate Alien Cartoon Series. Any Similarities That May Pop Up Aren't Intentional
Author's Note:
* Hello and welcome to Chapter Eleven.
* I know that this chapter may not be very entertaining, but I don't want to rush things with Ben becoming a super hero, so we'll have to wait just a little while longer.
* I hope you guys enjoy this chapter. Anyway, let's get right into it.
Earth-6101
Thursday Morning – Early September, 2017
The Tennyson House
Ben
As usual, Nathan and I walked to school the next morning. As we walked in silence, I decided to ask Nathan about the arcade.
"So, this may sound weird." I said as I turned to look at him.
"Go ahead."
"Yesterday, Gwen told me that you, me and her should go to the arcade, the one by all of the fast food places, on Saturday."
"Why?"
"Just to hang out. But she also mentioned getting me out of my comfort zone. She doesn't want me to be such a shut-in."
He shrugged.
"Well, she's right. It wouldn't kill you to be a little more social and outgoing."
I shrugged in return.
"I guess so."
After a second or two he spoke, turning to look at me with a grin.
"Yeah, let's go. It could be fun!"
I smiled back.
"Okay, cool!"
Saturday Afternoon
So, first thing's first. After receiving one week of detention, Kevin acted as if he were a neutered dog. For the rest of the week, he didn't bother me at all, nor did he bother Gwen. Even though that was only two days, it was the most blissful two days of high school that I had had at this point. Yesterday, after school, I asked Mom for money for when I'd go to the arcade with Nathan and Gwen today.
When I inevitably had to tell her about Gwen, of course, she wanted to know all about her. All I could tell her is that she was a new friend of Nathan's and mine, I finally stopped talking, feeling embarrassed by talking about her. The sound of my phone vibrating brought me out of my thoughts. I reached for my phone and picked it up, looking at it.
We are here. – Nathan
I was confused.
We?
I got up from my bed and grabbed the money that Mom had given me, which had been sitting on my desk. I walked out my bedroom door and down the stairs to the living room.
"Mom, I'm heading out to the arcade!"
"Okay, have fun!"
"I will!"
I walked to the door and outside, to see Nathan standing a few steps away from the stoop. And surprisingly, Gwen was standing right next to him. I stepped off the stoop with surprise.
I would have thought that we were meeting her there or something, I thought.
She gave me a toothy smile as she shut her eyes and waved at me, while Nathan just nodded at me.
"Hey, what's up, guys?" I asked as I stuck out my hand to Nathan.
We high-fived each other's hands and not wanting to make Gwen feel left out, I reached out to her as well and she high-fived my hand.
"Well, guys." I said as we began walking down my driveway towards the sidewalk. "Let's get going."
We all started walking down the sidewalk, with Nathan on my left and Gwen on my right.
"Have you seen Kevin since your detention?" Nathan asked.
I nodded.
"Yeah. For once, he's leaving me alone. And not only that, but he acts like a neutered dog. It's amazing."
"Yeah, it's about time that he saw how the other side lives. Don't expect him to stay this way, though."
"Oh, no, no, no. I expect that he'll be right back to the way he is normally by Monday morning."
I snuck a glance at Gwen and noticed her looking at me.
"Oh, um, sorry!" I exclaimed as I put my hands up.
She just shrugged as she looked ahead of us again. At that point, I decided to turn the conversation towards her.
"Have you done the homework for Physical Science yet, Gwen?" I asked.
She shook her head.
"No."
"Do you need help?"
She didn't say anything this time.
"If you need help, I'd be happy to help you. You just have to let me know."
She turned to look at me again.
"Alright, alright! I appreciate it!"
After that, she looked away from me again and didn't say anything else. I didn't say anything else, either.
Sometime Later
The Arcade
Eventually Nathan broke off from Gwen and I at the arcade. He went to go play one of those gun games, he called it a "on-rails shooter". I didn't know anything about them, I wasn't good at them and I generally wasn't interested in them. When he departed, Gwen and I went to play a few games of Skee Ball. Right off the bat, I noticed her throw her one of her balls into one of the undesirable holes, one of them that only gave you a hundred points or more.
"That's not a great start." I replied.
She turned to look at me with a bit of an annoyed glance.
"Well, that's all it is. A start!"
I threw one of mine and it landed in one of the corner holes, one of the ones that gave you the most amount of points.
"Nice one!" she replied.
I turned to look at her as I felt my face grow hot.
"Oh, uh, that was just a lucky shot."
I grabbed my next ball and threw it, only for it to land in the exact same hole.
"Just a lucky shot, huh?" she challenged me.
"Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah! Totally!"
I grabbed my next ball and threw it, this time landing in one of the middle holes. I didn't get a ton of points this time.
"Looks like someone's streak of luck has ended!" she teased.
I let out a sigh.
"Yeah, yeah."
A few minutes went by and both of our games were over.
"I win!" Gwen exclaimed, turning to look at me with a smile.
I looked at her score, it was only a few hundred above mine. I continued looking at it as both of our tickets began to come out of the machine.
"Well, it's not like it was a competition!"
I tore my tickets out once the strand had stopped and looked back at Gwen. And she just looked back at me. Suddenly, I felt my face begin to heat up again. Desperate to clear the awkward tension around us, I reached my hand out to her.
"Want my tickets?" I asked.
She reached out for them, but at the last second, she pulled her hand back a bit.
"You don't want them?" she asked.
I shook my head.
"No, I don't really like the prizes that they have. You can have them."
"Okay." She said as she took them from my hand. "Thanks."
I nodded without a word, smile on my face.
"Nice one, dude. Tell me, what's it like losing to a girl?"
I nearly jumped out of my skin, causing Gwen to laugh. I turned to look at Nathan, who was standing behind me with a grin on his face. Obviously, he had gotten a kick out of scaring me. Once I got over that, I spoke as I crossed my arms over my chest.
"Hey, it was a close game, honest!" I said. "I could have had her if I really wanted to!"
Both of them started laughing and eventually, I did too. When Gwen stopped laughing she spoke.
"Oh, is that so?"
I turned to look at her.
"Best two out of three!" she exclaimed with a smirk on her face.
"You're on!"
Sometime Later
Well, once again, Gwen beat me. Both times. And I forfeited my winnings to her, being the gentleman that I was. At this time we all had sat down and ordered a few slices of pizza in the small food court that the arcade had.
"Anything going on with you, Ben?" Nathan asked.
I shook my head as I bit into my pizza, not speaking until I swallowed the bite in my mouth.
"Since we talked when walking home from school yesterday? No. What about you?"
"I'm going to sign up for football on Monday. And maybe baseball, as well."
"Really?"
"I played in middle school, didn't I?"
"You played football, I definitely can say that. And you were good at it, if I recall correctly."
"Damn right I was good at it." he spoke before looking at Gwen. "What about you, Gwen? I know Ben and I haven't known you for long, but is there anything new with you?"
Gwen swirled her straw around in her cup, creating a bit of a whirlpool.
"Well, nothing really interesting. One of Daddy's benefactors pulled out of his company this week."
"His company?" I asked.
She nodded with a sheepish look on her face.
"My parents are kinda rich."
I sat back in my chair a little further.
"Wow. I'm friends with the popular girl and the rich girl? That's just wow."
She rolled her eyes.
"Oh, come on! We're not that rich! And I'm not that popular! I only have a few friends besides you two."
"Oh, yeah? How many bedrooms does your house have?"
"Oh, you know. Maybe three or four... We live in a nice house, but not a mansion, okay?"
"Stop pestering her, Ben." Nathan replied.
"Okay."
Sometime Later
Before we left, we decided to try the claw machine. I didn't have any luck. Same with Nathan. However, by some stroke of luck, Gwen got a stuffed animal, a kitten, on her first try. As she pulled her prize from the machine, I couldn't help but speak up.
"Stuffed animals? Really Gwen?"
"I like them. Yes, I'm fifteen and I still collect them. So, what?"
She then looked at us.
"Well, all except for taxidermied animals. That's just wrong."
I nodded.
"Yeah, I get that. Especially after reading up about how it's done. It's disgusting!"
She wrinkled her nose with disgust.
"Ugh, don't tell me about it."
After that, we decided to leave. Before we did though, Gwen went up to the prize booth and cashed in all of her tickets. With that, she bought a water pistol.
"Still playing with water guns, Gwen?" I asked.
"No, but I know someone who does." She said.
She didn't seem to get the fact that I was trying to tease her. She grabbed the water pistol and we all walked towards the exit of the arcade.
Sometime Later
After Gwen and I said goodbye to Nathan, she walked with me the rest of the way home. I don't know if I mentioned it before, but Nathan lived a block away from me.
"So, what do you want to do for a career, Ben?" she asked as she walked.
I came to a stop as I put my index finger on my chin, thinking about it.
"Well, um, now that I think about it, I guess I want to be a scientist someday."
"Yeah. I can see you doing that."
I turned to look at her.
"Who knows? Maybe if I play my cards right, I'll be working at NASA. What about you? What do you want to do?"
"Hmm. I guess I might want to give acting a try. Or if that doesn't go over well, then maybe a career in modeling?"
"Modeling, huh? You know, I could see that. You have the, um, I mean... Well, what I'm trying to say is that you have the..."
"Yes?" she asked with a smirk on her face.
I continued to stutter, before I let out a sigh.
"I've talked myself into a corner, haven't I?"
She just looked at me, before she started laughing as we continued walking down the sidewalk.
Monday Morning
Madison High School
I had beaten Gwen to Physical Science on Monday, which wasn't normally how it was. Usually, she was the one who would get to class before me. I was writing notes in my notebook from what had been written up on the board when she came to stand in front of my spot at the table.
"Hey." I heard her speak.
I looked up at her, to see her smiling at me.
"Oh, hey." I said as I put down my pencil. "What's up?"
"Nothing. How was the rest of the weekend?"
I shrugged.
"Oh, it was alright."
The smile disappeared from her face and was now replaced by a nervous look. She began to twirl a strand of her fiery red hair around her index finger, as she avoided my gaze.
"Um, I wanted to ask you something."
"Okay."
"So, the Madison High School Back To School Dance is Wednesday. I was wondering if you wanted to go?"
Wait, like as in a date? Also, it was weird that they were just now having their back to school dance.
"What, like a date?" I asked.
Gwen's eyes went wide as her cheeks turned light pink.
"No, no, no! Not like that! I just meant like you, me and Nate."
I took a breath of relief.
"Okay. Yeah, sure. I'll ask him today. And by the way, why are they having their back to school dance now, of all times? This is our third week in school!"
She shrugged.
"I don't know. But seriously? You'll ask him?"
I nodded.
"Great! I promise you won't regret it!"
I chuckled.
"I never said I would regret it."
She just smiled but before she could say anything, if she was going to say anything, Ms. Vaughn walked to the front of the room.
"Everyone take your seats and quiet down, please. Let's get started."
Gwen walked to sit down next to me and I hurried to finish up my notes.
Later That Day
After school that day, Nathan and I walked home, as usual. I turned to look at him as we walked.
"Hey, so Gwen had another request today." I said.
"Request?"
"Yeah. Like when she asked us to go the arcade with her."
He let out a yawn.
"Well, don't leave me in suspense. What's going on?"
"She wants us to come with her to the Back To School Dance on Wednesday. I don't have a problem with it, but are you in?"
He kept walking beside me without an answer.
"Nathan?"
"You know what? Sure. Why not? It could be fun. So, yeah. Let's go."
I looked away from him and back at the path ahead of us. We didn't talk for the rest of the way after that.
Author's Note:
* Well, that's it for this chapter. I hope you all enjoyed.
* I won't bring up anything about the next chapter, ya'll will just have to check it out to see what happens. With that being said, I'm going to go though. So, have Bwen-tastic day and bye.
Next Chapter: Ben, Gwen and Nathan go to the Back To School Dance. Ben continues to get himself into trouble because of Kevin's actions.