C:
Marla met me after school in the club room. We had all kept an eye on Frede and Sabina. For all we knew, the two of them were on another mission to collect an Artifact. Maybe even from one of us. After Frede's outburst in the cafeteria, we felt he was telling us they were up to no good.
"Oh Andy, before you go, do you mind hanging out with Miles for a bit today?"
"Of course, but does he really need me to hangout with? He seems pretty popular."
"Miles is... a special case. That's why I think you two will get along."
A few moments later, the door opened and in walked Miles. It was late in the day, but he still looked like it was 10 AM. His uniform was still neat, the pants had a sharp crease, and it looked like he'd just gotten a haircut from a posh salon.
"I hope you didn't call me here to watch more reality television."
Marla put on a laugh as she ran over to greet her younger brother with a hug. The way she gripped his face onto her shoulder, it almost looked like she was trying to smoother him.
"How was your first day? Did you make friends?"
Miles just shook his head and rubbed his temples.
"Oh please, I will not be making many friends as a transfer student. That is why I am focusing on my studies. Which is something I think you told mom and dad you would do—"
"You're so funny. I want you to hangout with Andy for a bit, like you promised, ok?"
"I remember. Unlike some people, I always fulfill my promises."
It surprised me how awkward Marla was with her brother, compared to how close she was to Luna. Perhaps it made sense. He was always away at foreign schools after all.
Marla left in a rush before Miles could interrogate anymore her about studying.
Miles looked at me.
"I guess my sister wants us to be friends."
We ended up deciding to check out a new arcade that had opened downtown. Of course, Miles didn't play any games himself. But he was a martial artist, so fighting games interested him. And he was interested in computer engineering, so he found the prospect of an arcade intriguing.
The sun was still high as we walked out the front doors of the school.
"So Miles, how was Switzerland?"
"It was amazing. The students were much more serious than they are here."
"Oh... that's cool, I guess. And Mr. Pace said you were in Japan for a bit? What was that like? Did you see any anime while you were there?"
In a rare loss of composure, Miles winced when I brought up the last part. I knew I'd hit on some sort of pet peeve and braced myself for his response.
"*sigh* Japan. Americans tend to fantasize about Japan, as if it were some futurist version of The Shire. But the truth is that there are a lot of underlying social problems that Americans rarely acknowledge. Did you want to hear about the actual problems, or did you just want me to confirm the weird fantasy you got from spending too much time on the internet?"
"Oh... I... the second one... I guess..."
Miles' tirade about Japan caught me off-guard. It was like he could go from 0 to 100 in an instant. He was way more intense than his sisters. I wondered if this was how Rhodes boys were trained to behave.
He stared at me without blinking until I was given an out. I saw Cole walking down the side walk and I waved him down.
Cole's shoulders drooped as he walked over to us. He was staring at the ground and his usual confident bravado was subdued, not that that was a bad thing. He and Miles exchanged a glance and Miles held out his hand for a shake.
"Good to see you again, Cole."
Cole just stared at him like he was disputing whether to accept the handshake, but he did. Cole started to leave, but Miles held on to his hand to say something.
"We're just headed down to the arcade. Why don't you join us? I'd love to catch up."
Frankly, I was thrilled about the idea of Cole coming along. Miles was nice and all, but a little intense for me. It seemed he and Cole might get along more naturally.
As soon as we got into the back of the town car, Miles started interrogating Cole.
"So Cole, Luna was crying last night. Any idea why?"
"I... I didn't know that."
"How could you not know that? You are her boyfriend, right? If my girlfriend were crying, I'd consider it my business to know."
Cole scowled at Miles, and I could tell it was going to be a tougher outing than I'd expected. At first, it seemed that the combination of Cole and Miles would be complimentary, but it was looking more explosive.
D:
There was a new arcade built downtown with an entire section for fighting games. We headed down there and went in.
The arcade had a cyberpunk theme and was decorated with the genre's trademark neon blue and purple lights. There were girls dressed up as scantily clad "cyberpunks", wearing futuristic skintight clothing with cutouts designed to show plenty of skin.
We walked to the fighting game section and waited in line for one of the Dragon Riders machines. For the first time, Miles looked impressed.
"Wow, it really is Dragon Riders. Andy, I didn't tell you this. But I was a bit of a fan when I was little. Back before it got too popular here in the States."
Hearing that Miles was an old school Dragon Riders made me ecstatic. We finally had something to bond over. There were a million things I wanted to ask him.
"Did you watch the movies too?"
"Yeah, I did."
"You know they each have their own timeline, right? Like with the first one, it couldn't have happened because Kuja was dead at the start of Dragon Riders Z."
"Wow, I had no idea. I need to learn more about this."
As the three of us waited for a machine, Miles and I had a lively conversation about Dragon Riders. He seemed especially interested when I told him about all the power scaling videos online.
"That form increased the strength to 2.5x base power level? And scholars have pored over the scripts to recreate accurate estimates? That's fascinating. I need to see these."
I just hoped he would pace himself. On the other hand, Cole seemed totally mystified by what we were talking about.
"So... that's the show with the blond dudes who blow up planets, right? That's this game?"
The subject turned back to Miles. Cole was asking him about his experiences. Apparently, they'd met as kids at some high society event.
"Miles, how are you liking Shadow Lane?"
"I was telling Andy here that I think the students are lazy. At least compared to what I'm used to. And the teachers aren't very good. These seem more concerned with flirting with each other than actually challenging the students."
Cole looked impressed at Miles' honesty.
"I'm not a top student, so I guess I can't really comment. But what about the girls? Luna said you had a girlfriend at Mystic Alps right?" Miles furrowed his brow.
"*Tch* I wish she wouldn't just tell people that kind of stuff. I did have a girlfriend at Mystic Alps. And I'm going to do well with the girls at Shadow Lane, thanks to how low the boys have set the bar. It won't be difficult for me to stand out among your class to the girls."
Neither I nor Cole knew how to respond when Miles started dissing Shadow Lane. It was striking how different he was from Marla. She'd always avoid offending people. Miles didn't even seem to be aware people could even be offended by what he said.
Finally, we got our shot at the machine.
I showed Cole the controls while he kept talking to Miles.
"There's one thing about the girls at Shadow Lane that you should know, Miles. They are high-maintenance."
"Oh they are? Are you talking about Luna? What about you, Andy? Do you think Marla is "high-maintenance"? Or do they just have standards?"
Cole saw his error and scrambled to recover.
"No, I mean, just not like the European girls, right? I hear that they're kind of easy, right?."
Miles looked at Cole.
"Easy? Is that the kind of girl you like?"
"I... not really."
"I just ask because you're dating a Rhodes girl. Nothing about the Rhodes family is "easy". You would be happier with someone else, if you really feel that way."
Cole winced.
"No... I didn't mean—" It was too painful to watch, so I jumped in.
"I think Cole's got the hang of it. Now, let's do some real matches."
Cole and Miles were on the machine first. In hindsight, I should have started. Because once the two of them were on, they stayed on in an intense battle that attracted the attention of the entire arcade.
Miles had chosen Teen Kujo and executed the Hawaiian Special to finish Cole in their last round. But it was so entertaining, that they just kept re-matching. The most impressive thing was that neither of them had even played the game before. I was beginning to think I wasn't cut out for fighting games.
They finished and agreed to a draw, and received a standing ovation from the entire arcade. We left, and I asked Miles about more Dragon Riders while we walked to the food court.
"Tell me your favorite moment in the show."
Miles pondered the question like I'd asked him about the meaning of life. After a few moments, he came back with the perfect answer.
"When Kuja came back to help Kujo use the Super Sentai Hawaiian Special to destroy Master Strand and save Earth. I'm not ashamed to admit that I cried when Kuja went away for the last time. Marla had to console me. I thought it was all over."
"But then they added another arc."
"That was too bad."
We got to the food court and brought our food to the table. While Cole and I were still getting our utensils and napkins together, Miles had already torn into his nachos. And, despite how differently Miles behaved from Marla and even Luna, in the way he ate, he revealed himself as a true Rhodes. Miles inhaled a jumbo nachos meal, with his hands, in under five minutes. Then he ordered another.
Someone noticed us and walked over to our table. It was an attractive woman. She looked around our age. Without saying anything, she just sat down next to Miles. I half-expected him to ignore her and continue his snarf his meal. But instead he put down his food, wiped his hands and mouth and returned to the perfect gentleman.
He introduced himself and the rest of us to the girl, who was impressed that Cole and I had just returned from Ecchi Island. Things were going pretty well until the girl stepped on an unexpected land mine.
"Oh wow, Shadow Lane must be a really cool school if you all hangout together."
Miles shook his head.
"I'm not sure what you mean."
As she spoke, the girl pointed to Cole and Miles, then pointed at me.
"I mean, like, you two are hot and you're hanging out with this other kid, no offense. Do they not have cliques and like social levels at Shadow Lane? I mean—"
Miles held his hand to the girl's face and cutoff what she was saying.
"Excuse me, but I believe you just insulted my friend Andy here."
"Oh haha, I didn't mean to. I figured he wouldn't say anything, so I just kind—"
"You meant what you did. Now please remove yourself from this table before I have to get the roach spray, and I promise that wouldn't end well for you."
Miles sat there and stared at the incredulous girl, who walked off in a huff.
From my perspective, the outing to the arcade was great. Not only did I get to know Miles better, but Cole got the much needed chance to blow off some steam.
Still, I had to wonder what it meant that Miles hadn't asked me anything about Marla. Maybe it didn't mean anything, but I'm glad I'm getting to know her family better.
It was Wednesday evening, and I decided the perfect time to ask out Marla would be Friday night. That would give me a little more time to prepare.