7 The bubblegum girl at the seaside arcade

When I was growing up, my favourite part of going to the beach was the trip to the seaside arcade afterwards. Back then my favourite type of games to play were platformers where two cute cartoony characters teamed up to fight some big evil boss and their cohorts.

I found one such game and put in 10 pence to play. I chose the boy character and started playing. Fun music played loudly and I jumped into a level where I had to grab baddies and throw them into other baddies to defeat them. It was great fun! I passed a few levels, got more powerful and the game got harder.

I heard another coin drop into the slot and the girl character appeared, joining me in the game. I looked away from the screen and only then noticed that someone had joined in on the game. It was an older, taller girl I had never met before and she was chewing bubble gum. She gave me a big smile. "*snap* Hiya!" she said, popping her gum. I said "hi" shyly and looked back at the screen. I was a bit shy around strangers.

We played together. She was good. I was getting surrounded by baddies but she came in the nick of time to help me fight them off. Points, bonuses and goodies got higher and higher as we finished levels together. "Good job! *snap!*" she said to me whenever we passed a level together. I was still shy around this girl I didn't know but I couldn't help smiling and blushing. I was having a great time.

Then we came to a boss. A big creature shooting little creatures out at us. Together we had to grab the little creatures and throw them back at their boss' face. It was a struggle and we lost a life or two but we kept going until the boss slumped over and exploded into more points and bonuses and goodies.

"Yeah! Woo! High five! *snap!*" she said, holding up her big hand. I brought my hand up to it and we high fived with a *clap!*.

Just then a woman called out to her, saying they were going home. "Uh oh, I gotta go" she said. "Thanks for playing with me!" she said. On the screen, there was a cut scene as a reward for defeating the boss. The girl character gave the boy character a kiss on the cheek and hearts and extra lives flew everywhere. "Hehe" the girl said as she snapped her gum and gave me a big hug and kiss. "Bye!" she said before running off. Hearts flew around my head as she ran away. This was the best game ever.