Sure enough, the arcade (where the futuristic sign up front read "COINSTOP" in futuristic letters) had been trashed, all thanks to either kids ditching their own Fourth of July parties or vandals who made it a point to pick on the geeks who hung out there. The carpet, which was supposed to have rockets and planets and stars dappling the pitch black floor, had become so dirty that it was hardly possible to see anymore. It had too many crumbs and crusty old food embedded into it. The walls had sticky brown stains from Coca-Cola drinks being thrown from excitement, there were slurs in neon-colored graffiti practically everywhere, and there were some unidentifiable things stuck to the sides of arcade machines...

And yet, this was somehow heaven on earth to eleven-year-old kids.

"Hell yes!"

Tommy practically moaned as he grabbed armfuls of junk food from the front counter. The acne-faced cashier didn't even ask about how the boy had received so much money—he was far too consumed in watching someone play Galaga nearby that he went to grab the kid's food without even caring to notice.

The three kids were on their way to the games soon enough.

"You're going to eat all of that," Johnny said with quite the disbelieving tone. His voice was laced with a biting sarcasm and mockery, and the way he cocked his eyebrow and tilted his head was more than enough to prove that. Even he began to wonder how they were such good friends.

"Yeah, why?" Tommy retorted with a snort. As if his point hadn't been made yet, he picked up a handful of jelly beans (the assorted, every-flavor kind that probably tasted like barf if you ate them all at once) and tossed them into his mouth, chewing them as obnoxiously as he possibly could. His mouth was wide open and just about everything was out for both Maxine and Johnny to see.

"Ah, shoot—close your mouth, you buttlicker," Johnny murmured, fanning the air around his face. "No wonder your breath smells so bad. You eat all this crap, and you should just expect it."

"Shut up," Tommy said, his mouth still stuffed with now mushed-up, vomit-colored jelly beans. He swallowed (painfully so... though he'd never admit it, eating a bunch of different-flavored candy all at once wasn't the most appetizing thing in the world) and stared at all of the flashing game screens. There was a desperate expression on his face. "Let's just go play."

The three kids found themselves crowding around a single, bright blue arcade game. They were so close together that they were practically knocking heads, simply because they all wanted a closer look at the flashing screen of "Donkey Kong." Tommy's hands ached since he was playing his entire heart out.

He sucked.

"What the fuck? I didn't even touch the barrel!" He exclaimed, slamming his fist onto the machine. The quarters lined up on the screen shook just a little, and although he didn't hit the arcade game too hard, he felt like he had done just enough damage to be satisfied with himself. It was sort of his way of non-verbally saying, take that, you stupid machine! I hope you fall over for letting me lose!

He grabbed one of the three foam soda cups they had gotten earlier, which was precariously lined up right next to him, and took one enormous gulp.

Both Johnny and Maxine looked a little disturbed... or uncomfortable, at least.

"Dude... That one was mine,"  Johnny blinked. The other boy just waved him off as he put in another quarter, and as it rattled in the machine, he squinted with determination and bit his lip. Johnny was quick to make a face."That's gross, dude!"

"It wasn't yours, Johnny! You got root beer, genius!" Tommy murmured, already starting yet another game.

"Yeah, exactly!" Johnny exclaimed. He used the sleeve of his shirt to wipe off the excess spit on the cherry red straw. People would assume that he, too, had gone under the clutches of his own mother's fashion design, although that was far from the truth... he was just a well put-together kid that he chose to wear that all on his own. It was hard to tell whether that was a good or a bad thing.

Johnny nudged Tommy all over again. He was beyond frustrated that the germs didn't seem to come off no matter what he did—he wondered if he'd have to bathe in bleach to get it all off.

"Stop over-exaggerating, you idiot—that wasn't even yours. That tasted like..." Tommy went from smug and all-knowing to absolutely mortified... it seemed like his face became ten shades more pale and twenty shades more green. He was quick to wipe off his mouth and crinkle up his nose, then giving a gag."Oh god. You're right... Oh, that's gross."

Tommy was legitimately disgusted (as telling from his groan and continuous wiping of his lips)... however, he was still consumed by his undying interest of completing the game.

Poor Johnny had to cringe all on his own.

Tommy lost immediately this time. Barrel after barrel (all of which were pixelated and either blue or beige) tumbled down the bright red pipes, and despite Tommy's exasperated efforts to press whichever of the large buttons he could, the little blue jumpman was still 'flattened' the just moments after he began to play.

"What the hell?" Now he had just one jumpman standing idle in the corner. He had 'lost a life,' meaning that he'd have to step up his game if he wanted to beat it.

"Donkey Kong better move his Donkey ass..."

Maxine frowned a little. Considering the amount of times he had probably been to the damned arcade, he really seemed to suck at playing video games.

"You do realize that your character isn't Donkey Ko—" she started, though she was interrupted by a little blur of blonde hair rushing over and ramming her out of the way. The little girl, from her bright eyes, brilliant smile (or teeth, since she wasn't particularly smiling), and head of blonde hair, was definitely related to Boy Max... but they didn't know that yet.

All of the three kids crowded around the machine backed away with shock. The girl, who was surprisingly just an inch or two shorter than they were, was quick to take over the entire game and play for Tommy's place.

"What are you—"

"I'm making 'Donkey Kong' move his 'Donkey ass...' you can thank me later," the girl murmured. Before Tommy could protest, she moved backward before getting in between him and the arcade machine, her fingers pressing the buttons and moving the joystick at an impossibly fast rate. The points were quick to double and the jumpman racked up quite a few  points—and that left Tommy more than shocked.

The high score was beat all over again...

And by the same person, too.

"Done," the girl said with a small smirk. She turned around and leaned against the machine, crossing her arms over her chest as she stared up at the kids (who were an entire year older than she was). "You're welcome, by the way."

Tommy scoffed, readjusting the denim-on-denim far more than what would be deemed necessary.

"I had that in the bag," Tommy said, and the girl peeked up at him with a far from amused look in her eye...

Actually, that wasn't true. She was was pretty amused.

"Sure you did," she said with a small laugh. "You called the jumpman 'Donkey Kong,' and Donkey Kong is the ape. Pshh, you totally know your stuff."

Tommy scoffed and rolled his eyes, shooting a desperate glance in the direction that Johnny was supposed to be. It was as if he were to wordlessly ask, 'please help me keep my dignity...'

However, both John and Maxine had sort of gone off at that point. They were back at the front counter getting an entirely new soda from the clerk. The teenager—dressed in a red-vested shirt and some black slacks—looked a little frustrated at this point. The Galaga player had gone off, and the poor clerk had to deal with the group of annoying, eleven-and-twelve-year-old kids coming up to him whenever there was the smallest thing wrong with their order. Gross.

"Where is your mother?" Tommy asked, feigning (or actually taking) offense. What a 'disgusting' little girl. It was meant as a joke, but when the girl's face fell almost immediately, John knew that it would be in his best interest to take it back.

"Holy—I'm so sorry!"

The girl's bottom lip quivered, her unbelievably blue eyes were quick to well up with tears, and a sniffle was enough to confirm the fact that she was crying... that was, until her lips broke into a smile and she laughed. As the game screen blinked a hundred different colors, reflecting off of the girl's face in flashes of blue and red. Tommy just stood there with an expression that could only be described as utter confusion... and the girl caught on.

She thought it was the funniest thing in the world.

"I'm just messing with you, doofus." the girl chuckled, making it a point to grab a handful of almost-gone jelly beans and eat a few... one at a time, might I add. "Your face was just too priceless to pass up."

"What?" Tommy snickered, crossing his arms again and he rolled his eyes. "I knew that the whole time, you just... you wouldn't give me chance to tell you."

"That's not what the look on your face said," the girl smiled.

Checkmate.

"Shut up," Tommy murmured. He said nothing else. He grabbed all of the glittering change lined up on the screen and shoved it into his far-too-big pockets, and even though he had accidentally dropped a coin or two, he was ready to up and leave.

The girl thought otherwise.

"Hey, you dropped this," she said. She was still missing a couple teeth in the far back of her mouth, though that wasn't at all noticeable with the enormous smile she had flashed Tommy. She bent down to pick up a few quarters that began their journey away, rolling on the short carpet that had been flattened by children's Adidas, and the moment she stood back up, she shoved the silver coins right into the palm of Tommy's hand. He didn't have the chance to say anything.

"If you don't remember me, I'm Amber,"  she said with that same grin.

Tommy's large eyes blinked a couple times, and the moment that John and Maxine came back with their new cups filled with carbonated, liquid sugar, he finally realized who 'Amber' was.

"Holy shit!" he blinked, grabbing a sip of (this time, truly) his own sugary drink resting right by his hand. "You must be Max's sister!"

Maxine and John had settled back by the machine now. Not only did they have nearly-overflowing fountain drinks, but they also had bags stuffed to the brim with candy—that included the every-flavor jelly beans, fistfuls of unnaturally red licorice ropes, and at least a dozen blue lollipops, gum-pieces, and rock candies all in one.

"Yeah, and you guys must be his loser friends," she said with a small chuckle. She re-introduced herself to everyone (whether or not the already knew her—she just assumed that, because they didn't acknowledge or pretend like they knew her at all, they had no idea who she was) before staring up at everyone in the eye... she paused once she saw Maxine. "I don't he ever told me about you, though."

Maxine readjusted her cap and shifted in place, biting the tip of her tongue to hold back the gruesome feeling of her stomach sinking to her knees. Teeth-rotting junk food suddenly seemed a lot less appetizing... had Boy Max really kept her a secret?

"Um... that's okay—I'm Maxine," she said with a half-smile. She felt awkward.

It seemed like everyone in the group had been affected by a small explosion. They all took a step back and did a double-take on the girl, and each kid had a 'holy shit' expression on each of their faces.

"You're Maxine?" Tommy blinked. "Holy fuck! He told us all about you! How come you never brought that part up?"

Maxine shrugged. While she wanted to seem nonchalant, she felt ten times better. She didn't need (or exactly want) to be the center of attention, but she was just happy that Boy Max wasn't afraid to talk about her. She had talked her uncle's ears off (even though he was drinking and would hardly listen) about her newest best friend, and she had vented to her mom and dad on the opposite side of the phone.

They were friends, after all.

"Never came up, I guess," she said casually. She was holding back a small smile tugging on her lips.

"That's why you were sitting by his poster!" Johnny exclaimed. Before Maxine could do anything else, he snatched the baseball cap from her head and looked inside of it, and sure enough, it was hers. "And the hat, too! Do you have the foot?"

"The what?"

"The foot! The one that Max gave you?" John wasn't normally one to yell, but he was just a hair away from doing just that when he realized who this 'Maxine' was. Second to finding out that he was going to the Checkerberry State baseball game (the name "Checkerberry State" still didn't make any sense, but everyone just learned to go along with it at that point), this was the most excited he had been in a while.

A flood of understanding washed over Maxine's face.

"Oh! Right!"

Before she even knew what she was doing, her body seemed to react all on its own. Her small hands fisted into her (even smaller) pockets, and even though it was quite a tight fit, the charm fit inside completely. It still fit in the palm her hand.

"This thing?" She held up the rabbit's foot, which was dangling by a golden (or at least, some sort of gilded) chain. The game screen still flashed from off of it, but that was no matter— it was still enough to make both John and Tommy reach for it all at once. It was a little surprising that Maxine hadn't made it a point to swat away either of the boys' grimy hands (or well-cleaned... thanks, John).

"Yeah!" Tommy exclaimed. While John was gingerly holding the foot, Tommy was quick to tear it from out of the both of their hands. He examined the charm in his hands– the golden chain, the fluffy fur, and just about everything else imaginable. "That one was Max's... What'd you trade him for?"

Maxine shrugged, and with the same amount of aggression that Tommy had taken the rabbit's foot from her hands, she yanked it right out of his. It seemed like he'd be more concerned about a torn nail than she would.

"He just asked if we could be friends," she said with a nonchalant shrug, stuffing the rabbit's foot right back into her pocket.

"He just wanted to be friends?" Tommy asked, shaking his head. "There's no way in hell that could've happened. He wouldn't just—"

"Shut up, Tommy," Johnny said, shaking his head a little. "Let's just... can we talk about something else?"

"Wait," Amber spoke up. The girl had gone a little more quiet than usual... she knew that, at least. Because she was a year younger than everybody else, none of the kids (well—at least Tommy and Johnny, since Maxine was so new to the "group") really took the time to know her better, so it wouldn't be surprising if they didn't at all understand her change in tone. "You guys are his loser friends, right? Do you guys have any idea where he is?"

Her voice held a hope that, ironically, made every single person around her want to melt and disappear into nothingness.

That wasn't a good thing.

"He wouldn't be considered 'missing' if we knew where he is," Tommy murmured. That was very much a true statement. If anyone knew Max's whereabouts, they'd probably all be spilling immature jokes and whacking each other with pool noodles.

Amber resisted the urge to roll her eyes as she crossed her arms over her chest, and she shot Tommy a glare that could only be described as pure annoyance.

"Oh... Well, I came here to try and find who saw Max last," she murmured. To her, an interrogation mode had been activated with the flip of a switch, and that meant that she was going to do a complete 180 and ask everyone about his whereabouts. "When have you last seen Max?"

"At the port, around a couple days ago," Tommy shrugged. "We were swimming, but when all of us rode our bikes home he hasn't been seen since."

Maxine frowned a little.

"The last time I saw him was maybe four days ago," she said, biting the inside of her cheek to try and yank more details from out of her memory. She really wanted to slap herself for not remembering. Perhaps it had something to do with the fact that any memory of Boy Max made her sick to her stomach...

Her eyes squinted, as if she was staring at some light blaring directly into her eye, and after a moment of (apparently blinding) thought, she nodded. "Something like that... we ate at the ice cream parlor, and then I got really sick because of how much sugar was sitting in the bottom of my stomach. Then I just... well I ended up not seeing him again after that."

These statements seemed to make Amber truly begin to contemplate. That same, focused squint that Maxine held just a few moments ago was now ever-present on Amber's face, and it seemed to be twice as concentrated as Maxine's had been. Johnny and Tommy seemed genuinely afraid that her brain would explode.

"Do you know if he could be anywhere? Maybe lost in the woods?" Amber asked. It was a genuine question— while most people would assume, due to her young age and childish outlook on life, that she didn't have a clue as to what she was doing, she was absolutely a born genius. A child, but a genius nonetheless.

"Shouldn't you know this?" Tommy retorted, grabbing what little of the candy had been left over and shoving it into the (abnormally large) pockets of his brother's jeans. "I mean... fuck, you're his sister, aren't you?"

Everyone stared at him for a moment. It wasn't that he was genuinely awkward, but he had his moments... and this was absolutely one of them.

"No, I'm his great aunt who lives in Wyoming—yes, I'm his sister! That's a no-shit given, dorkus!" The sarcasm lacing Amber's voice was almost enough to be quite theoretically biting (she had bitten people before... she just didn't feel like it would be very appropriate at the moment). "Of course I'm his stupid sister. Why else would I be asking where he was? I miss him!"

There were two entirely different emotions playing in Amber's voice.

The first was anger. It was almost like she had slapped right in the face, and now she was getting prepared to throw some fists... But who could blame her? Tommy was just about the most annoying child to ever curse the face of the world, and now he was prodding on about how she should know about where her brother would be... why the hell would she be asking if she did?

The second emotion was loneliness. As much as she would hate to admit it, her brother was her only friend. Maybe it had something to do with the fact that she had such an aggressive personality, or the fact that she was better at just about everything than her fellow classmates... and the only thing that she would hate admitting even more than having only one friend is the fact that she hoped to make more...

With the three kids in front of her.

"Ah, shit," Tommy murmured. "You're a kid. Why the hell would you know anything?"

"I bet she knows more than your sorry ass," Johnny murmured, turning his gaze over to the little girl. She gave him a glance that said 'get this kid away from me before I snap his neck...' and that was sort of what she was thinking.

Again, she had an aggressive personality.

"I know a lot, actually," she said, giving a bit of a scoff as she crossed her arms over her chest. She absolutely had her childish moments (thus, 'Donkey Kong moving his Donkey ass'), though right now, there was a much more serious tone in her voice.

"Really?" Tommy asked, cocking an eyebrow and shifting in place. The candy and plastic wrap in his pockets crinkled a little, almost as if he was trying to sneak candy into a movie theatre by impersonating a pregnant woman (I wonder how that would work out), and he crossed his arms over his chest. Even though the denim hanging over his hands would hardly allow for people to take him seriously, his expression said otherwise. "Prove it."

Amber gave a stare that could only be described as that of a hormonal, quite displeased teenage girl. Even her eyebrow was cocked so pristinely for the description that it was surprise that it hadn't ever been plucked. It wasn't that she wanted her eyebrows to be plucked, anyway– while the popular trends were that of pencil-thin lines drawn where the eyebrows were supposed to be, she would much rather keep the pain to a minimum and wait until she was actually a teenager.

"Fine," she said. There was a smirk on her lips that just about said 'I'm about to prove you so wrong that you're going to go home and cry from embarrassment.' "Follow me then– unless you're too much of a pathetic, cowardly little maggot that you'd piss yourself when you're shown up by a nine-year-old girl."

"What the hell? You're only a year younger than me!" Tommy said. It was as if he was rushing to spare whatever dignity he had left– or the dignity that he had the possibility of keeping up until then. "And what does that even mean?"

"It means that you're a pussy," Amber murmured...

Now, the thing to note is that Amber wasn't primarily one to swear... and yet, she was swearing more than all three of the other kids combined (or at least, Maxine and Johnny combined).

That was for two reasons. The first was that she had nobody to stop her. Being allowed to go out by herself had its perks, and this was definitely one of them– especially since there was close to no limit on what she could do. The second reason was much more innocent. She was simply trying to be cool in front of the kids... Scratch that– it wasn't for Boy Max's idiot friends, but more for the only girl in the bunch. Thank God for Maxine.  She was the only girl in that town that couldn't be identified as a complete bitch, and telling from her baseball cap and short haircut, she was the only one who seemed to be remotely unorthodox and one in her own person.

"And plus... I'm still a girl," Amber added onto her previous statement. "Even if I'm only a year younger than you are, that's still stripping you of your dignity right there."

Tommy opened his mouth to try and muse another comeback, although the two glances she was getting from both Johnny and Maxine were too much to ignore. They decided right then and there to just go along with whatever she was going to do.