Nialani and the Astrarians | book one: The Secret of the Flames - chapter 1.part 3

Instructions

(+)s. “Yeah! What does bitter unripe coffee even taste like?” Nia chuckled, then added, “And, at the beginning of the school year, Steven asked me if I’d like a lawnmower for my birthday.” Mae shook her head, still smiling. “Damn, even after knowing us, for what? Six years now he still doesn’t know what we’d like,” she pointed out. There was a short pause of silence then the girls both burst out laughing, so much so that they couldn’t breath, and had to cover their mouths. Soon they pulled up Mae’s house and dashed inside. Nia put her bag on Mae's bed and plopped down in her desk chair,“So, what are we gonna do tonight?” Nia asked. Mae smiled. “My mom said we’re going to the arcade. I also saved the tickets from last time, so we can finally get that giant stuffed turtle that we want,” she said. “The turtle that we need,” Nia corrected her. She grinned. “Yes. Need,” Mae agreed, she looked around. “Do you wanna set up a fort for us to sleep in?” Nia shrugged. “Sure,” Mae grabbed some fuzzy blankets from her closet and Nia grabbed all of the pillows and squishmallows off her bed, and they started building a fort. Once they were done it looked nice and cozy. Then the girls’ started adding stuff to it. In Mae’s corner there were makeup, stuffed animals, and some paper and pens. In Nia’s corner she added all of the art supplies she’d brought, a few books, and a box that contained odd trinkets and tokens of her and Mae’s friendship. Mae looked up at Nia. “Hey, later you are getting a makeover. Got it?” Nia smirked. “Only if you beat me in Uno.” Mae grinned at her. “You’re on! And I’m gonna win.” “In your dreams!” They played a few rounds of Uno and sadly Mae won. By the time her mom called the girls down down, she had won five times and Nia had won four. Mae and Nia walked down stairs, passing the kitchen and grabbing a snack before heading to the truck. As Mrs. Candell drove them to the arcade, she and Mae recalled funny and not so funny memories from school. Finally they made it to the arcade. Before Mae’s mom had even gotten out of the car Nia and Mae dashed up to the entrance. Mae's mom got out of the car and shouted, “Girls! Wait up! I’ve gotta give you guys your card before you can do anything!” The girls stopped in their tracks and waited for Mrs. Candell to run up to them, and give them their shared arcade tickets card. Nia smiled. “Thanks Mrs. Candell” "Yeah, thanks mom.” Mae added. “You’re welcome.” she said smiling. They walked inside and began trying to get as many tickets as possible. After a bit, Mae held up the game card like it was a treasure or something really important. “We have 1,000 game points left. We have to be smart about it.” she told Nia. Nia laughed. “Well, we never do very smart things so... this plan won’t work very well.” Mae rolled her eyes. “Just try. Okay?” Nia sighed. “Fine.” she muttered. “Good.” she said, “let’s try Zombie Dance Smash Battle.” Nia blinked. “Really? Uh, but we’ve never been able to get more than three tickets from it…” Mae crossed her arms. “You and I have been practicing random dances for the past three weeks at lunch break. I think we can do it now.” “Whatever you say.” Nia said, and followed her to the game. They did not win. Actually the girls did quite the opposite. Instead of getting even one star they completely failed. Nia smirked at Mae. “Told ya so.” she said. Mae frowned. “Oh shut up.” “Nah, I’d much rather annoy you because you were wrong and I was right.” Nia told her, smirking . Her frown grew deeper at Nia's comment. They walked over to the next game and surprisingly got ten tickets, mind you that the average is 50. But hey, at least they were getting somewhere. By the time they had to go home they sadly hadn’t earned enough tickets to get their plush turtle. On the way back to Mae's home, they brainstormed name ideas for when they did get the turtle. Nia thought Korashellana Skyward Macbeth The First was a good name for him while Mae thought Blu would be a better name for him. You can obviously tell who’s better at naming things. When they got back to Mae's house, they watched Night At The Museum while eating some of Mae's famous ‘spicy jalapeño popcorn with sprinkles’. As the girls watched, Mae kept putting random makeup products on Nia’s face as a part of her ‘makeover’. Once they finished the movie they went on YouTube and watched some shorts on Mae’s I-pad. After they were both laughing hysterically they got to a really funny one that Nia had seen before and loved reciting a bit too much, Mae's mom walked in. “Hey girls. Time to go to bed. Lights off.” They both nodded. “Okay mom.” Mae said, walking over to her light switch and turning it off. She came back over and they whispered for a bit but soon they both fell into a deep sleep.