If any of you guys already knew I speak English...this was about to happen at some point.
If not, then...Hi, im Rafaeldecentstories, I have been writing this story in Spanish for the last couple of months, but even during that time, I got the strange feeling that I should have written it in English to begin with...and yeah, I'm going to go ahead and write this story in both Spanish and English.
I'm not going to sit down and say this is the best story you guys will ever see. I know this isn't the case, but I'm still gonna have fun and gather experience doing it. Plus, my Spanish-speaking friends told me it was good, so...bonus points for me
One thing: I used Ai to spell for me, at least until I feel comfortable enough to not use it anymore
In this Fic, there is going to be swearing, violence, blood, LGBTQ Characters (Figure who are they guys), underage drinking, and sexual references in later chapters (Nope, no lemons in this)
Im open to any constructive criticism you guys have, or just any comment
And enough of introductions...Enjoy CLASH on the dancefloor...in English.
The student and the player
"Ughhhh"
"Last asset in the area, finish the mission"
The announcer announces into the headphones of a 17-year-old Border Collie who is focused on the game in front of him.
"Mackenzie…" The voice of one of his friends sounds in his red headphones "... The bomb is where I died, find it and plant it in 'B'"
"Oh no," Mackenzie thought when he found out that he was the only one on his team alive. He just shook his head and communicated, "OK" "Using his fingers on the keyboard and his hand on the computer mouse, the Border Collie began to head to the last location of the bomb in the virtual world that replicated a small town in Afghanistan.
Mackenzie's character moved slowly, aiming his carabine at every corner of the map in search of threats. His heart was racing a mile a minute, and his hands were beginning to sweat, but he had to stay focused if he wanted to win the round.
He finally reached the area adjacent to the bomb, he was in a narrow trading corridor with shelves of fruit and clothing along it.
The border collie positions himself near a wall at one end of the hallway, steeling himself to enter and fetch the bomb.
But he stood there thinking.
"Someone will be there…waiting for me."
With courage in his heart, he steps out of cover and aims down the corridor with his rifle…He could see the bomb along with the down body of an Australian Red Kelpie, but he was right.
At the end of the corridor, there was a German Shepherd aiming his rifle at the other side of the corridor. The border collie reacts quickly and presses the left click to open fire on the enemy fighter. The enemy player is taken by surprise and falls dead in 4 shots.
"One hostile remaining in the area. Finish what you started," it is announced in the teenager's headphones.
"Good shots, Mack," some of his teammates congratulate him
With the enemy player dead, the border-collie approaches the Red Kelpie's body and automatically picks up the bomb.
"I'm sorry, Mack…" The Red Kelpie player's voice is heard
"It's okay… I can finish this," says the Border-Collie determinedly.
With the bomb in his possession, the Border-collie finally makes his way carefully to the target location to be destroyed. After a few minutes, Mackenzie managed to reach the target area, which was a ruin adjacent to some long buildings with some supply boxes in the center. Mackenzie approaches the boxes and presses the button on his keyboard for his character to activate the Bomb.
The border collie manages to activate the bomb, but when he is about to leave for a safe place, a scream reverberates in his headphones.
"MACKENZIE LOOK UP!
Mackenzie moved his mouse up so his character could look up at the three-story building and notice the silhouette of another player on the roof. It was an orange Heeler with a sniper rifle in his hands, but he wasn't aiming down the scope.
Before Mackenzie can react, the orange Heeler launches himself off the building, spinning in the air, and shoots at the border collie. As if by magic, the shot manages to hit the border collie in the head.
"AH!" Mackenzie's mouth opens completely at the same time that the screen turns red with the death of the character. This causes the screen to change to the point of view of the Heeler who killed him.
The orange heeler hits the ground without a scratch and makes his way to Mackenzie's character's body. The heeler stands on top of the character and begins to crouch and stand in a maneuver known as 'Teabagging.'
"Oh, come on…" One of Mackenzie's team friends complains
"This is already too far away," another of Mackenzie's friends complains.
After committing what is considered a war crime, the Heeler leaves the Border Collie's body alone to deactivate the bomb with plenty of time left.
Mackenzie, still with his mouth open, understands that he failed miserably in his mission while the screen changed to the logos of the factions and large words that said
'DEFEAT'
'TASK FORCE: 2 MILITIA: 3'
"They beat us today. Let's not let it happen again," the announcer says for the last time.
As Mackenzie tried to understand what had happened, pandemonium began in his headphones with the voices of teenagers and adults.
"THIS WAS EASY"
"I KILLED YOU 5 TIMES, FOOL"
"GG EASY"
"MACKENZIE WHAT HAPPENED?"
"GOOD MACKENZIE, GOOD"
"THAT WAS THE BEST TRICKSHOT I'VE EVER SEEN IN MY LIFE"
"YOU ARE VERY BAD"
"YOUR FATHER WENT FOR MILK"
"I HAVE YOUR SISTER IN MY HOUSE, FOOL"
With a face that wishes the earth would swallow him up, Mackenzie takes off his headphones and places them on top of the keyboard. He stands up and honorably leaves his room.
*Mackenzie's Room*
After the chaos of the game, Mackenzie had already returned to his room and was talking to his friends Rusty, Jack, Snicker, Lucky, and Winston in "Disclaw." The Border-Collie is in a room with a giant bed with black and white sheets that complement his colors in the center, a stand with a lantern, a closet with some clothing items for important events, and a large shelf with a slightly expensive computer set, a medium monitor, keyboard and mouse with lights, and a PC underneath also with lights.
"So she shows me her paw, saying, 'Talk to the paw,' and I said, 'Your paw is more interesting than you.' Hahaha," Lucky says, making the boys laugh, but Mackenzie doesn't find it very funny.
He was leaning back in his chair while stroking his soft tail which was in his lap to comfort himself, His mind was still on the embarrassing defeat he suffered an hour ago, but he finally felt well enough to talk about what happened.
"Guys," Mackenzie started speaking into the microphone of her headphones. "I'm sorry we didn't win that game. We were so close to winning."
"Don't worry, Mack," Rusty's voice starts to sound in the headphones. "This always happens. They were just better. We just need to go again and learn, right?"
"Where's your pride, Rusty?" Now it was Winston who spoke, "You can't say that the other team is better."
"Winston is right," says Jack, "but Rusty is right, too. Mackenzie has only been playing this game for about two days, so of course, he still has more to learn."
"6 hours in total specifically," Snicker corrects.
"I don't think experience has anything to do with what happened today," Mackenzie answers sadly. "I should have known there was someone on that roof. We lost because I'm a fool."
"Mack… " Lucky's voice sounds off.
"Mackenzie, please, bro," Rusty said. "Don't talk to yourself like that; nothing happened. Do you know how many mistakes I made playing this game?"
Mackenzie rolls his eyes. He already knew Rusty would go into "emotional support" mode, but he would listen to him anyway.
"I once lost a game because a ninja defused the bomb without me noticing, and no one has any idea how much abuse I got when that happened," Rusty begins his speech. "Jack once got so nervous about being the only dog standing that when he found the last enemy, he missed every shot and got killed. Snicker was so new that he didn't know the run button and got killed quickly. Lucky was so lost that he took a shotgun to a big map and got called a fool."
"The point is," Rusty continues, "is that we were all fools when we started this game. But when I played with you, I felt that we were a good team, a serious team, gentlemen. I know that if I'm going to play with you, I can trust Jack, Lucky, Snicker, Winston, and you, Mackenzie. So next time, I need you to reset, put that game behind us, and move on, okay? Can you say OK in the chat, Mackenzie?"
After Rusty's speech, Mackenzie sits back in her chair and types a simple 'OK' as a response in the "disclaw" group chat.
"That's my brother," Rusty says
"We may have lost this game, but we still have one week before school starts," Sncker mentions
"Yes, are you ready for the last year of the hell known as 'High School'?" Winston changes the subject.
"I'm not ready, but I'm going anyway" Lucky jokes
"Hey, did Mackenzie say that an exchange student would stay at his house this school year?" Jack asks.
"Oh yeah, actually, my family is picking him up from the airport tonight, and I'm going with them" Mackenzie replies.
"But why?" asked Winston. "Why don't you stay with us and play?"
"Because I'm going to live with him for almost a year," Mackenzie answers, half annoyed. "I need to get to know him and start the relationship on the right foot."
"That makes sense" Rusty says thoughtfully. "But usually exchange students are students from other countries. Do you know where he comes from, Mack?"
"Ahhh…"Makenzie starts thinking of an answer
The truth is that Mackenzie didn't pay much attention to this student's details because he wanted to save them for when he finally met him. "France?" Mackenzie manages to say unsurely. "I don't know, but I know he speaks French."
"Phew," Lucky said. "It's a good thing Bluey and her family know French."
"Yeah, probably, and Bluey's going to get him into our group," Rusty says.
"He's probably better at video games than we are" Winston adds.
"Well, we'll learn from him," adds an optimistic Jack.
*RINGGGG*
Out of nowhere, Mackenzie's phone starts ringing in front of him. With a confused frown on his face, Mackenzie picks up the phone to look at the screen, but when he looks, a smile appears on his face, and his tail starts wagging in joy.
On the screen was a profile picture with a picture of him and his best friend arm in arm at the Glasshouse Elementary School graduation with the name underneath "BLUEY BEST FRIEND"
"Guys, I'm going to leave for a second, okay?" Mackenzie warns.
"Ok," Rusty Snicker and Winston manage to say before continuing to talk to each other.
With his friends busy, Mackenzie turns his attention to his phone, which has an incoming call from his best friend. He swipes the green circle to accept the call and places the phone to his right ear without first lifting his ear with his own phone.
"Mackenzie!" the sweet voice of the blue Heeler comes from the phone
"Hey Bluey, how's my favorite Heeler friend?" Mackenzie asks with a cheerful tone.
"I'm fine, but…" Bluey says before continuing in a low voice, "Don't let Bingo hear you say that."
"Why? I love all my friends equally… well… some more than others," Mackenzie jokes
"Hahaha." Bluey's laughter can be heard over the phone. "Who am I talking to? Mackenzie or Comrade Mackenzie?"
"Hahahaha," the two best friends laugh. It's been 11 years since Bluey and Mackenzie met at Glasshouse Elementary School, and their relationship has no end in sight. At this point, they were already siblings from another Mother, knowing everything about each other and with a confidence that has no limits. But if someone asks Mackenzie about his relationship with Bluey, he would wish it wasn't like that.
It's been 11 years since Mackenzie had the feeling of being something more with Bluey, of becoming her proud boyfriend and spending his whole life with the cheerful and pretty blue Heeler, but his own fear and dread made Mackenzie not take the next step towards dating and stay in the comfort of friendship, like a teenage love movie in high school.
After laughing for a few seconds, Mackenzie regains his composure. "It depends on what you want to tell me, Bluey."
"Well…" Bluey regains her composure as well and continues talking. "My family and I are going to the cinema to see the new superhero movie, but Bingo invited Lila to go with us, so… would you like to go with me?"
A slight wave of sadness invaded the Border Collie's heart, and his smile changed to a sad grimace. As much as he would like to spend time with Bluey, he had to be present at the airport to receive the exchange student.
"I would like to, but…" Mackenzie began to speak, expressing his sadness, "I have to go with my family to the airport tonight to pick up the boy who is going to study with us."
"Aw, okay…" Bluey said with sadness in her voice. "I was hoping to hang out with you before I go to camp."
"But I'll be here when you get back" Mackenzie reassures her friend, forcing a cheerful voice "If you want I can watch the movie with you, or you can tell me how your day went… you know I'm all ears.
"Yes, but I don't fully trust that you are 'all ears' haha," Bluey says laughing
"Well, I do my best, and that…is enough for you," Mackenzie says with a smile, even though Bluey doesn't see it.
"Yeah... well... I was just calling to tell you that... I have to go, see you later, Mackenzie."
"See you later Bluey" Mackenzie says goodbye and hangs up the call
After the call, Mackenzie moved the phone to see the background screen. It was a group photo of some of his friends that he had grown up with these past 11 years. Rusty, Jack, Winston, Snicker, Pretzle, and even his other friends like Indy, Honey, Chloe, and Coco were there, but his gaze was at the center of the group, where Bluey and him were hugging each other's shoulders.
"One of these days, I'm going to tell him how I feel," thought Mackenzie, looking at the old photo.
Mackenzie turned his attention to his monitor with "disclaw" open and noticed that he had a private message from Rusty. He opened the message and was surprised to realize that it was only a one word message.
"BLUEY?"
Mackenzie, with a smile, just responds back with some heart emojis
"YEAH"
*Brisbane Airport Terminal*
It was already 10 p.m. at the airport terminal, and in the arrivals lobby, family members of all races and colors were waiting for their relatives. Some families were also waiting for the international exchange students eager to experience the culture of the land down under.
Among the families waiting was also the Border Collie family: the parents, a black and white Border Collie, a brown and white Border Collie, and Mackenzie. The latter was looking intently and annoyed at the board of arrival flights—more specifically, at a flight that left Hawaii before sunset.
"I would have gone with Bluey to the cinema," thought an impatient Mackenzie.
"When is this boy coming?" asks a grumpy Mackenzie, looking at his father.
"Soon, son, soon," Mackenzie's father says calmly to reassure his son.
When Mackenzie looks at the billboard again, Out of the Blue, it updates, and the flight with the exchange students from Hawaii is already showing as "LANDED."
"Ok, it's time, "Mackenzie's mother said. "Son, take this."
Mackenzie's mother hands her a white scroll that she had in her hand, and by instinct, Mackenzie decides to open the scroll.
With the scroll now open, Mackenzie reads the contents. "Welcome to Australia…huh?" Mackenzie's mind gets stuck trying to pronounce what was on the scroll.
"That has to be this boy's name… "the border collie thought with a confused and amazed grimace. "...god, he has to be the final boss of France."
Mackenzie rolls up the paper still with the same grimace and fixes his gaze towards the immigration exit to wait for the boy. With each passing minute, he begins to experience more nerves and anxiety as he raises and lowers his legs; this was going to be his first experience with this kind of teenager, but he already knew the requirements to be one.
Almost perfect grades
Learn a new language.
The courage to live on your own in an unknown country.
Mackenzie could easily admit it. Whoever lived with him would be far superior in all academic and social aspects.
After 15 minutes of waiting, the first exchange students leave immigration control towards their host families.
"Mackenzie, the sign," Mackenzie's mother warned her son. Listening to her mother, Mackenzie unrolled and raised the sign as if she were at a wrestling event. With the sign already up, Mackenzie prepared to watch as the first exchange students finally met their host families. Even there, Mackenzie couldn't help the aura of pure responsibility that these teenagers gave off.
As the minutes passed, the border collie's heartbeat began to beat faster because he knew that at any moment, he would meet the boy who was going to share the house in his last year of school.
And his soul almost left his body when he heard his father say
"I think that's him…" he says, pointing to a dark navy blue Labrador.
In the distance, a dark navy blue Labrador was walking and moving his head like a radar disk to find his host family. The Labrador was wearing a red cap with the Canadian flag printed on the side and a red backpack on his back. He was dragging a suitcase with a neck pillow hanging from one of its bars.
Thanks to Mackenzie's sign-lifting skills, the dark blue Labrador notices the family of border collies with raised eyebrows and walks faster to head toward them. As he gets closer, the Labrador's smile can be seen, the result of having spent countless hours on a plane to get to his destination.
With the Labrador close enough, Mackenzie finally lowers the sign, and his parents move toward the Labrador to greet him.
"Bienvenue à Brisbane," The Border-collie mother says in her best French interpretation.
"Oh?" the Labrador stops dead upon hearing his native language and points to Mrs. Border-Collie. "Tu parles français?"
"Ahhh, No French, no French, hahaha. " The border-collie father defends himself by waving his palms, which makes the Labrador and his wife laugh.
After laughing, the Labrador started speaking in English with a French accent. "Nice to finally meet you, Mr. and Mrs. Border-Collie."
"Oh, the pleasure is all ours, "the border collie mother says affectionately, placing a hand over her heart and then pointing to herself, her husband, and her son. "I am Mel. My husband's name is Fozzie, and my son's name is…"
"Mackenzie," Mackenzie says as the border collie parents part ways, revealing the presence of the teenager to the Labrador
"Mackenzie Border-collie." He introduces himself, extending his paw to the Labrador.
The Labrador sees the hand and plays along by shaking Mackenzie's paw. During the handshake, the Labrador finally introduces himself.
"Jean-Luc Labrador"