Dauver answered the door and smiled. ¨Come in, I hope you like video games!¨ He said allowing us in. Sitari and Alex were having a chug off with a soda. Dauver turned on the game console and sat down on the edge of the couch with a controller in his hand. Pepper sat in the space behind him as I grabbed a controller and sat next to him. Meulin smiled and joined Alex and Sitari. Nepeta sat on the floor and spoke up. ¨We can do this!¨ Nepeta said, smiling and handing Pepper a controller and turned her controller on.

Dauver put on Call Of Duty Black Ops 3 the zombies and we all got ready. About forty minutes in the game, it became intense. Meulin sat there, eating a cookie while Sitari ate some more cotton candy watching intensly. Alex was sitting upside down with her feet on the couch clenching her fist nervously. "Pepper cover me!" Dauver said, just as I piped up. "Dauver I need help!" "Neppy behind you!" Pepper said, shooting the zombie behind Nepeta. "We came all this way for a good fight and got nothing!" Dauver exclaimed, really annoyed. "Uh guys?" Pepper said in a worried tone."Yeah Pep?" I asked her, clearly upset about the game. "We should start running" She said as a giant mob came for us.

We were playing as if our lives depended on it. We were doing great until a group of guys walked in and interrupted us. "Omg don't fail!" every guy in the group yelled at us, causing us to all die. "NO WE WERE SO CLOSE" Nepeta exclaimed. "Pepper don't be upset" Dauver said, patting Pepper's back to comfort her. I turned around and glared at the first guy I saw that was laughing. Oh god, it was Jace. Oh well it was his choice to interrupt the game. I put down the controller and got in his face.

"What's the big idea? We were about to beat it!" I exclaimed, obviously irritated. Jace blushed just a bit and looked down. "S-Sorry uh we were just uh-" He started but was quickly cut off by Dauver. "Hey guys, it's time to go the movie is about to start" I nodded to Dauver and grabbed my bag and put my beanie back on. "Well, let's go!" Nepeta said, avoiding Karkat's gaze. Sitari had already left, not wanting to faint due to Gamzee being in the room. Alex had followed her, avoiding one of the boys, Dave, and was waiting outside. Meulin calmly got up and walked to the door. Karkat opened his mouth to speak to Nepeta, but the cat girl already dashed out the door.

"Well ladies first" Dauver said, acting like a dorky butler and bowed, motioning to the door. Pepper giggled, bowed back, and walked outside. I laughed and softly and playfully punched his shoulder. "Your such a dork Dauver" I said and followed Pepper, leaving Dauver to answer and reject his brother. In five minutes, we were all packed up in Dauver's car ready to go. We set off to the outdoor theater and parked his car. Nepeta and Meulin sat inside so Nepeta could put in the translations for Meulin. Pepper and Dauver sat on the top of the car, eating popcorn. Alex sat in a lawn chair and was surrounded by bottles of apple juice. Sitari was well, sitting in the play area stuffing her face with cotton candy. "Movie! Movie! Movie!" We could all here Sitari yelling from the playground, sliding down the slide. Everyone could see Sitari playing tag with the kids, waiting for the movie to start. As soon as the sun had set, Sitari ran back to the swings, and I joined her so she wouldn't be alone.

About two hours later, we all got in the car and went to go eat at the pizza parlor. I have never seen Alex stuff her face with so many pizza's before, it was shocking, disturbing, yet really cool. We all had a contest to see who could chug the most Dr Peppers. Surprisingly, Dauver and Pepper tied, so they shared a cake to celebrate. "So sis, you and Jace" Pepper started, but I quickly shushed her. "For the last time, no! And besides, he's popular and i'm a person that's just...there" I said, looking down into my hands. I felt a hand on my shoulder and I looked up to see Dauver smiling at me. "Hey don't be like that! By the way things are going, he's bound to ask you on a date by Christmas!" He said in a cheery tone as the other girls nodded in agreement. "Wh-What? But next Friday is a half day at school, then it's Christmas break!" I said as I felt my face grow hot. They all laughed as I covered my blushing face. I haven't blushed this much since the first grade! How embarrassing! I groaned "You guys are mean!" I whined, trying to annoy them.

Alex laughed and bit into a pizza. "Hey let's go to the arcade, and then plan our next hangout!" She said before biting into another slice of pizza. After Alex had finished her twentieth slice of pizza, we all headed to the biggest and greatest arcade there was, Jade's. Jade's was made by Carolina Jade Williams in 1989. It has a combination of modern day and olden day's video games. From the original Pac Man and Donkey Kong to Terminator and the giant Temple Run. Today Jade's is owned by Jake English and his niece that lives with him, Jade Harley. Jade Harley is one of our close friends from school. Kinda ironic how Jade Harley is helping run Jade's. We all walked in and I immediately hugged Jade. "Hey guys! Sorry, we are kinda low on staff today, they are running late today." Jade said with a frown. "We can help you!" Pepper and Dauver said in unison. The rest of us nodded in agreement. "Thank you guys so much!" Jade said with a huge smile. We all went to the back of the arcade where the employees go and we each put on the uniforms for the job. After an hour or so, the employees showed up and we were able to relax and play video games. "Hey thanks guys, you guys were very helpful" Jade said, handing us some sodas. "No problem" Said Alex, accepting the cold soft drink.

Jade laughed and led us to the new Dance Dance Revolution game. Pepper and I both squealed and immediately got on the platform and started the game. "You're going down Mari!" Pepper said with her hands on her hips. "In your dreams Peppermint!" I said back to her, crossing my arms. We both stared at each other intensely. Jade chose the song and sat down next to Alex. "Ready," Sitari started, "Set go!" Pepper and I were getting perfects and greats throughout the game. A couple songs later, we had a huge crowd around us, cheering for Pepper and I. We both posed at the end, causing the crowd to cheer even more. Pepper and I laughed and high fived each other. "Your good Pepsi" I said to her. "Yeah so were you MD!" Pepper said back. Smiling, Pepper and I stepped off the platform and headed out of the crowd. Pepper was immediately tackled into a hug by Dauver. They both laughed as Alex walked up and smiled. "You two were great up there, i'm in awe." I laughed and thanked her, I heard it takes a lot to awe Alex. After that we all sat at a table and discussed when our next hangout will be. After about an hour we all decided that next week we would all have a sleepover at Dauver's place, go bowling, go to the ice skating rink, and order pizza. We also decided on the games we would play there.

We were walking home, Sitari had left to meet her cousin, Cigtava. Alex had already left, something about new beats. Nepeta and Meulin had went home, they had to feed their cat and watch over the house as their mom went on a job. Pepper and I were walking Dauver to his house, we were afraid to let him walk home alone in the dark. As Dauver went inside, Jace peeked at us from the background. Dauver went to go get Pepper and I a gift he had made us, so Pepper and I waited outside. Jace invited us inside to sit on couch while we waited for Dauver to come back. As we sat there waiting, I noticed Jace kept looking over to me. I was not the only one who noticed this, Pepper was sitting next to me trying not to smile. "Do you need anything Jace?" I asked him, kinda nervous from him looking at me. He seemed startled at the fact that I had noticed him. Was he blushing at me? He had opened his mouth to speak, when Dauver walked in and handed Pepper and I each our own small box wrapped and with a bow. We both thanked him and made our way to the door. Just as I was about to leave, I turned around and smiled and waved good bye to Jace. And then I left with Pepper to my house. I quickly went to my room, can't believing I had smiled at him without spazzing out on the inside. I opened my gift and inside was a journal, a picture of Jace, and a small stuffed dog. I smiled at the gift and set the small stuffed dog on my bed. I put the journal on my desk, and the picture of Jace on my dresser mirror. With a smile I snuggled in bed and slowly drifted to sleep.

That night I dreamed of how my winter would be like. I also dreamed of the possibility of Jace asking me out before winter break. Deep in sleep, I smiled at the good things I was dreaming. But little did I know, there was a shadow lurking near my window, waiting to strike.