Golden Games

"So, Yamari, how are you feeling?"

"Um...good. How about you?"

"I don't feel much of anything anymore since I was overthrown by a rival."

Her car was a bright, white Bentley. There was a driver in the front. He looked scrawny and dependent on Elizabeth. On que he turned the car on, backed out of my drive way, and crept through my neighborhood.

"My father was a business man who had worked hard to achieve and maintain his power. After a few bad choices in hiring, all that was taken from him. This scarred his name and left my family name a mess. We were shunned by the world."

"Oh, I'm so sorry," I said sympathetically.

"Trust me, dear, it's me who should be sorry for you. My father hired your father so I know of his death. I hope you are keeping up with what I'm telling you."

"Yes, I am. What I don't understand is what you and i need to talk about."

"Here. Let me make this simple for you. Your father is the reason of my father's failure. My father had plotted to kill you father, but he didn't get the chance before your father died of natural causes. I, being promising and very deadly, was sent to Japan to find you. A former member of our family had already found you and failed miserably at trying to kill you. There are two choices you have: jump out of the car, run, have me chase you, then have me catch you, and finally have me kill you or sit still and drink this. Which one do you choose, Yamari? she asked handing me a wine glass full of black liquid.

"Neither. I'll choose option three," I said grabbing the glass to splash in her face. Next, I grabbed her perfectly white hair and slammed her against the car door.

The driver had noticed, and he was furious. He tried to get hold of me, but I was too quick on executing my plan.

I dodge-rolled out of the still moving car and dashed through my neighbors yards. My mind was fast at work calculating speeds and times. I picked up the sound of wheels squealing in an effort to do a U-turn. My speed increased as the car and I got closer to my house.
Andrew was watching and did an incredible thing. He picked up a cement sculpture we had in our yard that must have weighed a lot and hurled it at the cars windshield.

The windshield must have been weak because the sculpture went straight through then slugged the driver in the face. The car swerved and came to a stop further down the road.
After reviewing our altercations, we called the police. The obvious turned out to be different; the black fluid which i thought would make me faint turned out to be an acid. I'm glad i didn't drink it or look at her face as she and her driver were carried away.

If that wasn't enough excitement for one day, Sterling just so happened to call me. Sterling, a football player with a soft side, had been my main crush for almost three years. He comes and goes a lot. If he isn't with a moron or an equally popular girl than he's talking to me about getting with one. It's a vicious cycle that would be broken that your because I am finally taking the initiative to ask him out. Anyway, he called to ask if I would like to go to dinner with him. I, of course, said yes, but only if I could bring Andrew with! Mistake one.
We agreed to meet at J.M.K. Nippon's, a fabulous Japanese restaurant, that is always full of questionable people. Mistake two.

Later that day, I walked into the restaurant with Andrew and saw Sterling. The scene wasn't what i had imagined. I had thought like a fool that this event was meant for him and I to become closer. Alternatively, he was at the table with Ali, the lead cheerleader who has hated my guts since the 6th grade when we first met.

"Hey, Yamari, over here!" he called.

I walked over with my cool in tact. Andrew was trying to blend in and kept close to the entrance.

"Hello, Skyler, Ali."

"I'm glad you came. Sit down so we can all talk," said the heart crusher,"I wanted to tell you that Ali is my new girlfriend and that I'm taking her to the party. I also wanna know if you wanna go together."

"That is if you even have a date."

"What party?"

"You mean you haven't even been invited? What a joke!" laughed Ali.

"Yamari, the huge party Asheen is throwing in a week. He sent out invites a week before school went out for summer. I guess you must not have been invited. That's okay; I bet the party will be lame, anyway," he said obviously embarrassed for me.

"No. It'll be great. The rich and cool people will have a blast while the nerds and losers like me sit at home crying, eating ice cream, talking to our foreign friends online," I stated.
Images were overrunning my mind of the party and him with her. I was ready to get sick. I got up and ran for the entrance. I passed Andrew on the way. He didn't follow but walked to the table and said something because Sterling's face got sickly and Ali's was stricken with horror. I waited for him in the parking lot.

"Hey, what's a pretty, young girl doing all alone out her?" asked a man from behind me.
"I'm waiting for my...um...boyfriend. He's a big guy. He used to be a wrestler before he was thrown in jail for murder. Why?" I lied.

"Oh...I was just...never mind."

I didn't turn around and just walked with haste to the car. It was the same neon green Beetle. Andrew came out of the restaurant to see me almost asleep in the car. He nudged me into the passenger seat, and he drove us home.

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No more than the average accumulated over the rest of the summer. It was now the day before school started. Andrew had stayed with us. Mom enlisted him to go to my school and since Andrew didn't know too many people and the "safety precautions" called for it we had the same schedule. Even our lockers were next to each other!

The bell rang, signaling the time of doom-lunch.

I meekly went to the lunch room. The cliques, cults, and groups had already assembled themselves into tables. There were too many to count, but i decided to sit at the least judgmental table. Andrew had become my shadow for the day and followed my exact movements. We sat at the freak, loser, and nerd- but not total rejects-table. Gretchen sat eagerly awaiting Andrew. Meredith came over from the salad bar and took her seat.

"Hey, dudes, how's the pizza?"

"Eww, gross! This stuff makes me never want to eat again!" Gretchen screamed, pushing her plate away.

We all laughed and enjoyed until we were interrupted.

"Girly," she said.

"Yeah, girly, yeah," repeated her mindless drones.

Julia, the mean girl in our school, kicked my shoes and said,"Those are cute. Where'd you get them?"

"Oh, I got these from a store that's only in California."

"Ah, that's nice. So, Yamari, why are you sitting over here with these wannabes and not with us?"

"Because, Julia, these wannabes are my friends."

"Take it easy. It was only an offer. If you want to, you can take Andrew with."

"No thanks. I'm good over here with the humans. Dogs and mannequins aren't my style."

Her drones gasped in shock and returned to their table. Julia stayed behind to say,"Fine. You would have made a good popular, but I see the freakazoids have already gotten to you. Enjoy your lunch. If you change your mind, you know where to find me."

She strode away.

"Hey, do you want me to write some stuff on her and send it to the school?" Gretchen asked sipping Cream Soda.

"Tempting but no. I can handle her on my own. I know all of her tricks."

In fact, I've known all of her tricks since the 3rd grade. We were enemies from the start. Towards middle school we stopped talking. We called that our Period of Rest. Ever since we've had an on and off friendship. Our table finished eating and sat talking pleasantly to one another.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a flashy man excuse Julia to talk in the hallway. They were out there a long time and when Julia returned she shot a menacing glance at me. I recognized a smirk on her face as she put a box into her book bag. That was suspicious, but i was too lazy to check it out.

The bell screeched out the call for next hour, and we students shuffled out of the cafeteria and into the hallways.

Me, Andrew, and Meredith headed towards Advanced Physics while Gretchen headed outside for gym class.

Sitting in the back now, Andrew and I talked about what had happened in the lunch room. We eventually concluded while Mr.Ventone wrapped up today's lesson that Julia was either now in the race to capture and kill us or in the race to mortify me. Whatever plot she was involved in needed to be stopped or my reputation could be at risk.

The rest of the day passed quickly and before we knew it all of us were biking to Highlander from my house. We bought tons of makeup and Mountain Dew to last us the rest of the evening. Around 8:00 p.m. the girls had to leave, and Andrew and I were left completely alone. Both my parents were in Chicago visiting an old friend of theirs and Yasive was spending the night with a drama buddy. My other brothers and sister had gone back to their homes across the country.

For an unknown reason, I felt energetic, and I wanted to go out and have some fun. Andrew wanted to settle in and maybe watch a movie or two. He was cramping my energy flow, so I decided to just go out on the town by myself.

I found the spare keys to our Beetle and drove to Julia's. I had heard Julia was throwing a huge first day back to school party. Only the cool people were to be allowed in. Maybe Julia could make me an exception.

There were cheerleaders and football players blocking the path to the house. If they weren't making out or drinking they were arguing or talking bad about other schools. I walked into their group, trying to get through but instead got a mouthful about my lack of coolness.

Eventually, I got to the door of the house. Reaching for the doorknob, I could feel the vibrations of the music and smell the illegal actions happening inside. I could have chosen to not go in. I could have said,"No way,dude, I'm going back to Andrew!"I could have done hundreds of things, but I didn't.
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