Chapter 2 #2
“King Kai is back!” Jamie cheers, throwing her hands up in triumph as I join them in the upstairs living room.
“Hey James,” I say, chewing my lip to avoid smiling too big. “Hey guys.”
They all sit in front of the TV, playing Shadow Quest. None of them jumps up to hug me, and I’m so relieved.
“How many stitches this time?” Parker asks, stabbing at the controller’s buttons.
I swipe my sleeve up and lift my elbow into view. “Only four. It’s not a big deal.”
Jamie winces. “It was deep, though.”
“Yeah, we could see the bone,” Tyler adds, reclining in my usual armchair.
I bop the back of his head. “You could not.”
Tyler ducks in reaction. “We could so. There was that white part before all the blood spurted out.”
“That’s not bone,” Lewis says, glued to the TV as he tries to take out Parker’s character. “It’s cartilage or something.”
I flop onto the couch between Jamie and Lewis. “Since when are you a medical expert?”
Lewis shrugs, unwilling to take his eyes off the screen. “I’m not. I just know we didn’t see your bone.”
“Will Milo know?” Tyler asks, leaning forward on the armchair like he’s about to spring up and ask him.
I wave him off. “Man, I really couldn’t care less. I’m beat.”
Jamie smirks. “You’re just laying the groundwork for an excuse for when I kick your butt at this game.”
“Excuse me.” I jerk away from her. “I was just in the emergency room.”
“For only four stitches,“ she mocks.
My groan turns into a chuckle until I’m grinning at her. “Oh, it is so on.”
Jamie grimaces. “Dude, do you think you can change your T-shirt? I don’t want to look at your blood.”
I smirk. “I forgot about it.” I get up off the couch, and when I pass Tyler, I punch his arm. “Get out of my seat by the time I’m back.”
“Umm, ouch,” Tyler grumbles as I move into my bedroom.
Upstairs, beyond the living area, are my bedroom and Milo’s bedroom, separated by a bathroom.
It makes having friends over super easy because Mom and Dad’s bedroom, plus the guest bedroom, are downstairs beyond the main living areas.
They might be tough sometimes, but generally, my parents are super chill.
Luckily, they love having all my friends over, acting like they’re all extended family.
My bedroom is dark, thanks to the drawn curtains.
Light streaks into the room from the living room, creating shadowy projections on the posters on my walls.
I flick on my stereo and let a metal album stream at high volume.
Carefully slipping on a clean T-shirt, I move back into the living room, and my armchair is now vacant.
I flop down and snap my fingers at Lewis. “Fork over the controller.”
He tosses it at me, and I wince when I catch it. The instinct to catch something being hurled at me made me forget to be careful about my stitches.
“Sorry, man,” Lewis hisses, gritting his teeth.
I bite down, grunt, and then shake my head. “I’m good.”
“Maybe next time you won’t try to backflip off your skateboard,” Tyler says, sniggering.
“Is that what happened?” Milo asks, stepping onto the landing, carrying his cat.
I throw a hand up in his direction. “Don’t even worry about it.”
“There’s wrecking it,” Lewis says, smirking, “and then there's Kai’s massacre-level wrecking it.”
Jamie swoops in, punching Lewis on the arm.
“Ouch,“ Lewis hisses, leaning far away from her. “What was that for?”
“You’re running your mouth,” Jamie says like the top dog she is.
“Did you really just question whether Jamie had Kai’s back?” Tyler asks with a silent laugh.
As I watch Lewis wince and rub his arm more than I did when my wound was fresh, I almost forget Milo’s in the room.
My brother moves behind my armchair on the way to his bedroom. “Back flipping?” Milo mumbles.
“Yeah, yeah, it’s nothing,” I mutter, selecting my character from the setup menu.
“Sounds really freaking stupid,” his voice trails toward his bedroom.
I look over my shoulder at him. “For the record, I made the flip. I just landed on the edge of my skateboard and it up-ended.” I place my hand over the bandage. “I cut my arm on a cement corner, and it punctured me.”
Letting go of his cat, who escapes into his bedroom, Milo winces like he’s sorry he asked. “That’s the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard.”
I groan and turn back to the TV. “Ugh. Piss off, you loser.”
“Does this have to be so loud?” Milo complains.
Hearing him pad his way toward my bedroom, I bark, “Don’t even think about touching the stereo.”
Parker and Lewis burst into laughter at my words, and on cue, Milo slams his door shut.
After we select our characters, Jamie hits pause as our game begins. She leans forward, eyeballing me. “How come it’s so easy for you to tell that story when,” she taps the spot below her eye where my scar is, “you can’t fess up about how this happened?”
I shrug, hitting the pause button to start the game. “Because you guys can’t handle that story.”
“Oh, boo!” Parker grumbles, and Tyler throws a pillow at me.
I bat it off. “Hey! Injured man here.”
“Stop it with the sob story,” Jamie says, sitting forward as she moves her character. “I’d be beating you right now, stitches or no stitches.”
I press the buttons in the combo move I googled during one of the boring classes at school. “James, you’re deluded.”
She sits so far forward that I’m waiting to hear a thud. “Watch me!”
Okay, looks like she’s done some googling too. But I watched a gameplay of the moves she’s pulling, and I know how to beat them.
“You guys have gotta learn,” I say, pummeling Jamie’s character into the ground. “I can beat every single one of you with one arm compromised.”
They all groan dismissively, and when a winner banner flies across my character, I turn to face Jamie, and she mirrors my grin.
“Best of three?” she suggests.
Another round of groans circles the room when I tell her it’s on. The guys know from experience that when Jamie and I get competitive, an afternoon easily turns into a very long night.