Author's Note: After a huge writing binge, the next update is here. Thanks for your patience. I do wonder if I've fixed all those typos.
WARNING: This update contains a segment with the student-teacher relationship. It's at the end, after the second line break.
On another note, while proofreading I could not help but go on Google to find out, "Why are bowling shoes so ugly?"
EDIT 6/26: Added a line break, made sentence changes, and fixed typos.
On Friday Rapunzel walked into the courtyard covered in paint. The others were already there, kicking a hackeysack by one of the brick ledges beside a set of stairs.
"Have you guys been tossing that thing around the entire time I've been in art club?"
"Yes," said Merida, eyes fixed on the knitted black ball she bounced on her ankle.
"I was in there for an hour!"
"What were we supposed to do?" said Anna. "Homework?"
Vanessa sat on the ledge with a notebook in her lap. Slowly and meticulously she highlighted passages from her history class. Rapunzel sat down next to her. "How do you write so much in a day? I can barely keep up to get half a page."
"It's all a matter of filtering out the important information and taking shorter notes," Vanessa explained. "It gives you more time to listen so you can keep writing."
"Ha!" said Merida, making them look up. The hackeysack had fumbled on Anna's foot before plopping heavily on the ground. Anna groaned and picked it up. "I win again. Man, just one of these days I'd like to see a fight in you."
"Oh, you're gonna get a fight all right," Anna said. "My average knocks everyone else out of the league. Well, everyone except Kristoff."
"And just who exactly do you usually bowl with?"
Anna paused. "Kristoff." She protested at Merida's smirk. "Hey, I've looked at the screens of people around us. I beat them all the time. Even when they get drunk, and drunk bowlers are better than sober ones for some reason."
"Save your breath," said Merida. "I'm gonna clean your clock this afternoon. I might even give Blondie a run for his money."
Anna looked at her smugly while tossing the hackeysack in the air. "This blondie is a two-hundred-pound weightlifter with a right toss that hits a strike in a second. And his family's been taking him bowling since he was, like, six." The hackeysack would go up for a moment, then fall back into her palm.
Vanessa leaned on her hands and chuckled. "So do you get as unrealistically competitive about sports?" she asked Rapunzel.
"Not really, unless I'm winning."
Anna was still bragging. "And then after we're done wiping your averages, we're going to count them up and find we scored double."
"Even after you're exhausted from a game of fetch?" said Merida.
Anna stopped tossing the hackeysack. "What?"
Merida grabbed it and flung it hard. It flew over the stairs, arcing out of sight and hitting some indiscernible spot by the football field.
Merida looked at Anna just as smugly. "Go get it."
The bus dropped them off two blocks from the bowling alley. Along the way they scoped out the plaza for unusual instances.
"Is that guy being mugged?" said Rapunzel. "No...wait. He just dropped his phone."
"Ugh, PDA at nine-o-clock," said Merida. She called out. "Hey! Get a room, you face-sucking nitwits!"
The boy receiving her taunt responded with a simple raised finger; the girl, however, put her hands on his chest and pulled away, looking at Merida with flustered panic. Her boyfriend shot the group a dark look, then put an arm around his lover and led her down the block, whispering assurances in her ear.
"What are they, like, twelve?" said Rapunzel.
"Ah, seventh grade," said Vanessa, crossing her arms in wistful remembrance. "A time where a young man's fancy turns to love, and they make out in public because they're too stupid to see it's nothing more than erupting hormones."
They all laughed. Their destination was set in a plaza that thrummed with activity, never still or silent except when the sun was out. It was especially popular among the students of the nearby middle school, the peak of their presence being the exact day and time of the group's appearance.
"Ten bucks that half the kids swarming the coffee shop don't really like the coffee," said Merida.
"Oh, god no!" said Anna. "They just do it to look like grownups. I went through that stage myself."
"I knew you always hated that stuff," said Merida.
"Daily waste of two forty-nine. Hey, do you think we could get a pizza after this? I'm starving."
"Not even the almighty burrito could quench her appetite," said Merida gravely.
"I haven't eaten in four hours! And you're the one who made me get the hackeysack."
"It's good exercise." Any retort Anna would have made was drowned out when Rapunzel opened a door. A sudden warm air blew in their faces, bringing with it the lingering scent of alcohol. On the left, low lighting emphasized the colorful flashes of a built-in arcade. People were moving in and out of it, making their way to the twenty-four polished lanes waiting to be used. The solid smack of a ball hitting pins soothed the players every few seconds—or sometimes not, as one boy began cursing loudly when his roll left two pins standing as far apart as possible. "That guy's gonna make an amazing field goal," Anna said in Vanessa's ear so she could hear. The farther they walked in the more they noticed the thin leathery smell unique to bowling alleys.
"All right, let's put the fashion police on the lookout," said Rapunzel once they reached the front counter. "Size six, please." The woman working seemed to purposely pick out the ugliest sneakers in the cupboard.
"Neon pink with yellow laces," Anna commented as Rapunzel took her shoes. "Are people blind when they make these?"
"Hey, last time they gave you red-and-lilac checkers," said someone behind her.
"Kristoff!" They hugged. "Oh. Vanessa, this is Kristoff. He's my best friend."
"You've said." Vanessa came forward smoothly, her face drooping into a lazy smile. "Nice to meet you."
"Nice to meet you too," Kristoff said, returning the handshake.
Rapunzel and Merida nodded hellos. The woman behind the counter gave Rapunzel a deadpan stare as she waited for the brunette to finish going through her wallet. "There we go," Rapunzel finally said, pulling out the payment. "Eight-fifty. Man, I really wish I could get a credit card."
"It's hard not to let the power get to you," said Merida. She chose to pay in cash too.
"I'll pay for yours," Kristoff told Anna when he saw what little was left in her wallet.
"Kristoff, no, it's fine," said Anna, stepping forward. "I can get more from my bank account."
She used her credit card. "Your lanes are three and four on the very end," said the woman when Vanessa paid, and they went over.
"So how are we dividing up the teams?" Kristoff asked as he approached their computer.
"You and Anna are by yourselves," said Merida. "She thinks it's a fair fight." Kristoff and Anna locked eyes.
"I don't know, Anna," said Kristoff. "It might be a bit cruel to expect them to beat both of us."
"That's granting they'd even touch us," said Anna, crossing her arms.
"Oh, quit your boasting and get to proving your words are worth listening to." Merida leaned over Kristoff to enter her name.
"'MtheBrave?'" repeated Vanessa.
"It's always more fun using a nickname," said Rapunzel. After a click the lane's right overhanging screen refreshed to show Painter as the second user. "So what's your bowling pseudonym, Vanessa?" Everyone turned to her. The echoes of falling pins filled the silence as she looked at them.
She put her hands on her hips. "Master V," she said grandly.
"You got it." Rapunzel punched in the keys. "Okay, now you two showoffs."
Gerda and RDeer Boy appeared on the left screen. "It's my middle name," Anna explained when Vanessa raised an eyebrow at the ordinary moniker. "Kristoff, let's look for a thirteen-pounder."
Vanessa asked him questions over the cacophony while they bowled. He went to school on the other end of town and performed heavy labor at his family's zoo during the weekends. For fun he played video games on the couch or tossed around a football—both English and American varieties. Vanessa started to say something about his father, but Kristoff looked up at the screen and said, "Okay, Gerda, your turn."
Anna hit a spare. "Oh!" Her arms flung down in a brazen display. "That's over a hundred from the both of us six turns into the game."
"This is my warmup game," said Merida with a grim look down the lane. "Next one I'll catch up before you can even blink."
She sent the ball rolling. It sped clear down to hit the middle pin just to its right. It buckled and the other nine followed suit. "Not bad," said Vanessa as Rapunzel shuffled forward.
"One of these days I'm gonna manage more than an eight-pounder," she said before throwing her ball as hard as she could. It sheared three pins on the left.
"Your arm should be in the direction you want the ball to go when you let go of it," said Kristoff once the pinsetter retrieved the remaining targets.
"Oh, give away all the secrets," said Anna, but she smiled when Rapunzel hit five more.
A squealing blur tore down the steps beside them. A dozen six-year-olds gathered around the first two lanes, stomping excitedly. "Hey look, it's a birthday party," observed Merida when two middle-aged women went to join the girls.
"Okay, okay, let's get everything set up." A skinny girl with short blond hair sticking up hurried over to their computer. "All right, you first of course, since you're the birthday girl, and yes, you next Amanda…huh. Should I just put everyone in alphabetical order?"
"Everybody get in a line," said one of the moms, and the girls filed quickly. "Let's get your ball, Amanda," the mom continued, leading her over to the racks.
"Oh man," Anna realized. "Birthdays mean food. And I'm so hungry. Hang on, I'll get us something." She dashed to the restaurant. On the way back she bumped into someone. "Oh! I'm sorry!"
"No, it's all right." The boy looked at her. "Hey, you go to my school, don't you?"
Anna recognized the brown hair, the inquiring expression. "Oh god." Her hands ran down her cheeks. "I wasn't trying to insult you guys. I was just trying to be friendly."
"No, we understand." The boy was dressed in jeans and a loose-fitting sweatshirt. He moved his arms up in a gesture towards Anna. "Actually, we found it kind of funny. It's not every day someone approaches The Kids Under the Stairs."
"Jack!" The skinny girl was by his side. "Your sister totally wants you to join the team. They have your ball picked out and everything. It's adorable." Her movements were as wiry as her body. She noticed Anna. "Oh. Hi."
"Hi." Anna's eyes trailed down a long tank top with wide straps, its fabric interchanging hues of red and green. It draped over a blue skirt. The girl took Jack's hand. "They're all waiting for you. Oh, and your friends too," she added to Anna. They rushed to the lanes.
"It's okay, guys," Anna said dramatically when she arrived. "The food is coming, and verdict says The Kids Under the Stairs weren't offended in the cafeteria today."
"That was your own doing, missy," said Merida, dumping Anna's ball in her hands.
Anna righted herself and they kept playing. Partway through the second game, a waitress came by with a large basket of fries. "Finally!" said Anna as the basket was placed on their counter. "And hurry up with my burger," she told the waitress as she reached for the soda pitcher. "I could eat a horse right now." The waitress raised an eyebrow and went back to the restaurant. A few minutes later she returned with a steaming burger stacked high. "Oh good, extra pickles, great." The waitress turned away without a word.
"I heard the waiters spit in your food here if you don't say thank you," said Kristoff, and the contents of the first bite spewed across the counter. Anna grabbed a fistful of napkins and rubbed them furiously on her tongue.
"That's lovely," said Merida as Rapunzel took the rest of the napkins to clean up the mess.
"I can't believe they would spit in my food!" Anna poured herself more soda and gulped it down. The carbonation burned her throat and her eyes welled up. "Is that even legal?"
"My uncle worked in a restaurant a couple years back," said Jack as he passed by. "He said the waiters did way worse things to the people who were rude to them."
"Quick, let's go to the supermarket to buy her some mouthwash," Rapunzel told Merida as Anna downed another cup of soda.
Jack and his friend headed toward the arcade. Anna wiped her tongue once more for good measure, then returned to the lanes.
Vanessa wandered off after taking her next turn. She came back a few minutes later with a hot dog. "I sweet-talked that waitress, hon," she said, setting her food next to Anna's. "Turns out she's always wanted a restaurant of her own, but has to settle for here in the meantime. I think she's usually really nice," she said, casting her gaze to her subject smiling warmly as she delivered a pizza to the birthday party. "It's just the rude customers who get to her sometimes. But she didn't spit in your food," she assured Anna.
"I was never really worried," said Anna to the headshakes and eye rolls of her friends.
They finished their game. "Want to go to the arcade for a bit before starting the next one?" asked Merida. "I need to be out of here by seven."
"Me too," said Rapunzel. "That's an hour and a half from now."
"Sounds good to me," said Vanessa.
The arcade was packed and expansive. "I think they keep clocks out of here to give it the feel of a real casino," said Kristoff as they got change from a machine. "Getting you to lose track of time and spend a lot of money."
"I think the games being rigged do a better job with that, really," said Merida.
Anna waited for Vanessa to get her change. When Vanessa moved out of the way, she fed a five-dollar bill to the machine. "Here, take some of mine," Anna said, putting coins in Rapunzel's hand.
"I'm fine, really."
"No, you should be able to play as much as the rest of us." Rapunzel submitted, then gave a lopsided grin and went to a pinball machine. The rest split up.
"So, how long have you known Vanessa?" Kristoff asked Anna a few minutes later when they reached a two-player FPS.
"I already told you, the beginning of the year," said Anna.
They shouldered the plastic guns. "And she's just as much a part of the group as the rest of us?"
"Why wouldn't she be?"
"I just get a weird vibe from her," said Kristoff. "Like she's a little too curious."
"Oh please," said Anna, hitting the Start button. "There's nothing wrong with wanting to get to know someone."
The world washed away into a battle against extraterrestrial insects. "Pick up the grenades," said Kristoff after a moment of concentration. "I'm just saying, maybe it's worth being more discreet about what you say to her. Have you told her about your personal life?"
"Well, not a lot," answered Anna after shooting down a metal door. A swarm overtook them. "A bit about my parents, but only superficial things." A tiny pinprick curled into the back of her head. She sprayed pixelated bullets into the oncoming bugs. "If I tell her much of anything it's more about things happening at school." The pinprick multiplied and dug in deeper. Her shoulders suddenly felt exposed. "Hang on, get out. I'm gonna set off a grenade in here." They both took damage, but Anna's plan cleared the room. They picked up boxes of ammo and advanced.
A minute into the second boss their health ran down to zero. "I think that's longer than we've ever gotten," said Kristoff. The timer on the screen began counting down from thirty. "Want to stay another round?"
"I guess," said Anna, putting another two quarters into the slot.
After their next loss they moved on. Rapunzel was standing by a crane machine, perplexed at the sight before her. The skinny girl in green was leaning over Jack to watch him play. Jack had somehow conquered the claw's unfairly weak grip to win four prizes. "This one's for you," he said, putting a smiling tooth in the skinny girl's hands. She giggled and hugged him.
"I don't get it," said Rapunzel when Anna and Kristoff came closer. "All I have is this tiny bean in a sombrero, and that machine lets you play until you win."
"It could have been worse, Rapunzel," said Anna, opening her backpack to hold up a stuffed replica of a pineapple.
Jack and the girl started moving out of the arcade. Another girl half their height came up. "Come on, Jack!" she said, tugging his sleeve. "It's your turn."
"Okay, okay, I'm coming." Jack pulled a small brown animal from his sweatshirt pocket. "But I couldn't leave the arcade without getting an extra present for my favorite little sister."
"It looks like Bunny!" she said.
"I have a rabbit," Jack told the others.
"Hey Rapunzel!" Merida marched our of the arcade's depths with purpose. "I formally challenge you to a race in the International Swampolympics."
"Merida, you always win at that game," said Rapunzel as she was dragged off.
"Hey now," said Vanessa with her arms out in mock astonishment. "Who said you could get together without me?" She rejoined the two parties. After a moment of analysis she said, "So I take it you're dating?"
"Oh, yeah," said the girl holding the tooth. She put her arms around Jack. "We knew each other back in middle school, but we were just friends then, you know? And then over the last summer he asked me out."
"Okay, I think our moms are going to burst if we don't resume the game." Jack linked arms with his girlfriend and took his sister by the hand. "We'll see you later, probably."
"You know, that's actually kind of funny," Vanessa called when they were almost to the edge of the arcade. "There's this rumor going around that you're going out with that quiet girl with the braid."
"Elsa?" Jack waved his hand. "No one's dating her. We're friends though."
The trio vanished around a corner. For a moment no one spoke.
Vanessa broke the silence. "Well, I guess that lets you know one thing," She said it airily, shaking her hair.
"What's that?" said Kristoff.
Vanessa looked Anna dead in the eye. "Elsa's on the market."
Rapunzel and Merida deleted their names from the computer and packed up to go. They hadn't won any of their four games against Kristoff and Anna, though on the latter half they came close. Twilight had long passed outside, sending them into a black landscape shrouded in fog.
"It's almost like a ghost town," said Rapunzel as the last OPEN sign went out. "When the middle schoolers leave for home, and the spirits come out to play…"
The wind blew lightly on their way up the road. A few minutes later a bus came out from the gloom. "See you next week," Merida said as Rapunzel fumbled in her purse for her fare.
She waved down the driver's glance. With a steamy hiss the bus's front wheel rose back in level with the others. The door closed and the bus drove off. Merida was alone.
She waited a bit longer, then carefully put her hoodie over her head. Shifting into an alley, she slipped her cell phone from its place in her messenger bag. The screen's glow dimmed under her right hand.
Merida unlocked the phone and went to her contacts. The down button clicked until the highlighter rested on a number at the bottom. It was not tagged with a name. Merida lowered her right hand and stared at it.
She pushed Call. The receiver went to her ear, and it picked up after the second ring. Her teeth ground on the inside of her lip.
"Hello?"
The voice was languid and sultry. "It's me," Merida responded. "I'm at the plaza."
After a peek around the corner she exited the alley. One hand went in the pocket of her hoodie and the other gripped the strap of her bag. She moved her head under a tree planted on the sidewalk, its leaves rustling softly. Her ankles were getting hard to see in the fog. On her right, a fancy restaurant roared with a good time.
She waited on a corner. The streetlight towering above her flickered dimly.
A car purred on the curb. "Over here, dear," came a voice from the open window, and Merida hesitated before going in.
They did not say much on the way to the theatre. Some nights were like that; others, Merida could listen for hours as the woman beside her engaged them in a long conversation. The road now was getting narrower and emptier. Merida's bag was seated between her legs on the floor, its strap still in her hand. She tried not to look out the window, in case someone could see her. Car rides after dark tended to be the tensest times for her. Though the thrill was fun she felt it disquieting, and even on talkative nights there would arise some point where the air around her throat began to weigh on her.
"So, what movie are we going to see?"
Her voice cut loudly through the muteness inside the car. It sounded confident enough, she thought.
The driver turned down a row of trees. "Nothing that'll ask you to prove your age, dear."
They entered a drive-in theatre on the town's outskirts. Merida turned away as the driver paid for their tickets. "There we go," she said in a satisfied tone as she shut off the ignition in the middle of the car park. "And it looks like it's a popular show." More vehicles stood scattered throughout the dark gravel road, some teetering though they were parked. Merida pulled down the tip of her hood and shuffled lower in her seat.
"The usual, then?" asked her history teacher. "Popcorn, cotton candy, and a medium Sprite?"
"Yes, ma'am," Merida muttered.
It was always a bit strange, having them meet away from the familiarity of the school. Merida would be given time to adjust, then they'd get on to other things. It led to her not being able to help glancing at glass every now and then, even during her second class, as if expecting someone spying on her. She filed through her wallet, and her fingers rested on her state ID.
"Oh, you don't have to pay me back," said her teacher as she opened the door. "That's what my salary is for!" She threw her head back in a sharp, high laugh. Merida laughed too, and felt a drop in her stomach.
She kept the bag of popcorn in her lap. It would have been difficult to tell someone what the movie was about, if anyone had known she went to one at all. Something about a boy and a girl and a feminine father, and when a car plunged into the ocean Merida's vision blurred. She became aware cotton candy was sticking to her lips.
She was barely breathing. The teacher looked over, and with a smile leaned over to clean Merida with her mouth. As their eyes closed Merida frowned, but then she felt long silken fingers moving down her shirt. They reached an oily sack of paper. It was flicked over. Popcorn spilled on the floor. Merida shook kernels off her messenger bag, and as she did so, a hand slipped under her jeans.
Wasn't she a privileged girl.