LUK
LUK
The clock struck 3PM, school was out for the summer, and Danny Wire was determined to make his mark in Oakville history. As were the 31 other competitors in the ‘King of Summer 92’ Tournament’ held at the prestigious Dragon’s Tail Arcade. Winning would not only give him bragging rights, popularity, $1,000, and immortality his senior year, but he’d also wield the All-Dagger as well. A dull, golden blade one jabbed into the quarter slot of any game to play for free the rest of the summer. Danny also knew with the blade, he’d slay his virginity once and for all – or at least get a girlfriend.
Anticipation for the tournament grew for months, weaving itself into the hearts, minds, and conversations of every kid at Oakville High. Who had the best strategy? Who had the best character? Who had the best chances of winning? All questions swirling around Danny’s head like flies, but he paid them no mind…because the game was Mortal Kombat. All speculations go out the window when Shang Tsung yells, ‘FIGHT!’ After that, Danny wouldn’t be satisfied until he ripped his opponent’s heart out. He was certain he’d do that to whoever he squared-off against, but the mysterious LUK was a different matter.
Those initials mysteriously appeared atop of the game’s leaderboard last year, yet nobody know who they belonged to. Next to them was a score of 10,000,000. The number loomed over Danny like a rain cloud. How the hell am I supposed to beat that? How can anyone be that good? The scrawny 17-year-old asked himself as he stuffed his books inside his backpack. The arcade owner, Roy, stipulated the winner of the 32 competitors would have to defeat LUK in a final championship deathmatch to truly be hailed “King of Summer.”
“Haywire!” A playful voice shouted from front of the room. “What’s got you bummed out? Summer vacation just started.”
Danny realized he was wearing a scowl thinking about LUK. He looked up, and just seeing Ms. Kantos stretched a smile across his face. She was the new history teacher at Oakville High, fresh out of college, young, beautiful, brunette, and every guy in school had a crush on her. Danny included. The 23-year-old easily connected with her students over the year and became one the teenagers could confide in about anything.
‘Haywire’, however, was the nickname she bestowed upon Danny in the beginning of the year after hearing people calling him by his last name. “Hey, Wire!” So, she combined the words and blurted them as one. She thought it was clever. In fact, it was so clever she was the only one that would call him that. Danny liked it, of course. He thought it sounded kind of cool, but mostly because she would always smile when she said it. A smile that burned away whatever anxiety he was feeling in that moment.
“Oh, I was just thinking about the tournament tomorrow,” he said zipping up his backpack. “Just a little nervous, I guess.”
“Nervous? Dude, we’ve talked about your combos for hours,” she crossed her arms and leaned her desk. “I think you’ll do great, and winning that dagger will be pretty rad too.”
Danny tried not to let amorous thoughts take over his feeble, teenaged mind. Like her button-up white shirt that teased a black bra underneath. Like the small Sai she had holding her hair bun together because she was a big Raphael fan from the Ninja Turtles. Like the thick glasses she would take off to reveal her beautiful green eyes. Like how she would chew on the glasses’ temple tips when she graded papers. Like how they would often spend lunch together talking about video games, anime, and life. FOCUS! Danny thought to himself.
“Thanks for the confidence boost, Ms. K. It would be pretty rad to win that dagger,” he said. “Not sure how I’m going to sleep tonight though. My mind’s going a mile a minute thinking about tomorrow.”
“I can always assign you some summertime homework to take your mind off it all,” she swiped from papers from her desk and waved them at him.
“No, no. Not necessary. I think I’ll survive,” he smiled.
“I’ll be cheering for you tomorrow,” she said.
“I didn’t think you were working Saturday’s?” Danny asked. Everybody at school knew Ms. Kantos worked part-time as the Dragon Tail ‘quarter master.’ Business picked up when they hired her at the beginning of the year. Word had gotten around of how good she looked in her tight, uniform that resembled something out of a 60’s space sci-fi movie, and customers that weren’t video game fans flooded in.
“Guess again!” Ms. Kantos shot hand pistols at Danny, “I’m covering for Stacy so I can be in attendance for the blood bath. Still, I think Street Fighter 2 is a more dignified game, but I suppose children are in need of more violence from their video games.”
“Clearly we’re not getting enough of it from our history lessons,” Danny shared a laugh with his teacher, thumbs tucked under his backpack straps and teetering from heel to toe. He loved those moments with Ms. Kantos. However, it was spoiled by a sudden realization. He felt like an idiot not realizing there was a huge obstacle that’d keep him from even competing. The thought turned his face pale, removed the smile, and dropped his gaze to the floor.
“Woah, woah,” Ms. Kantos put her hands on Danny’s shoulders. “What’s going on here? You poop your pants or something?”
“No,” Danny said, unable to look her in the eyes. “I just realized I don’t have the $10 entry fee to get in the tournament. I, I was just so focused on playing I didn’t think about saving the money.”
Danny’s heart sank. All the practice he’d put into the game, all the wasted quarters. It would have been enough to cover the entry fee, but he was too addicted to the game. Grandma would be no help, her $25 dollar checks only came on his birthday, and that wasn’t until next month. His parents wouldn’t be able to help because they were in Tahoe for two weeks and Danny was not going to steal from them.
The teen felt a lump swelling in his throat. All the hours of effort he’d put in, it was all for nothing. While Danny was busy pitying himself, Ms. Kantos walked to the other side of her desk, and opened a drawer. Humming the Indiana Jones theme all-the-while.
“You mean this $10 entry fee?” She held up a crumpled ten-dollar bill and dangled it with her index finger and thumb. “There’s no way you’re not playing tomorrow. You’ve put in way too much work and I want to see what you’re made of.”
Danny’s heart melted. The kindness compounded his affection for her, and he barely managed to say ‘thank you’ when she placed the wadded bill in his hand. It was all he could do to keep his knees from shaking under his jeans – and breath steadily. He remained silent, admiring the entirety of his teacher. Was she aware of how I feel about her? Danny thought to himself. I could kiss her right now. I don’t care who sees. His teenaged hormones were going ballistic while angst coursed through his veins. It all felt like a force pushing him forward to go through with it.
“Now be gone, vile creature,” her hands shewed him away. “I have to pack all my shit up for the summer and can’t do it with a nerdy statue standing in my classroom.”
The jape snapped Danny out of his trance. He nodded. “I don’t know when I’ll be able to pay you back.”
“Consider it an investment,” she smiled and began placing her things in a large, cardboard box.
Danny turned and walked to the exit.
“Haywire!”
He turned at the doorway.
“Good luck tomorrow,” she winked at him, and pressed play on her boombox. NWA blared, and she sang along to every vulgar lyric as she continued packing things up.
Danny made it home, upstairs, and crashed on his bed. The rest of the evening and night he planned on going over his combinations and other characters’ combinations. Instead, his mind opted to think about Ms. Kantos. Her eyes, her smile, the wink she gave him, what they would do if they were stranded on a desert island together. All manners of teenaged fantasy swirled around her. The pleasing thoughts took his mind off his nervousness enough to allow him to sleep. And when he did, Ms. Kantos was all he could dream about.
Ring, ring, ring.
The translucent phone on Danny’s bedstand tore him from dreams of Ms. Kantos and back into reality.
Ring, ring, ring.
His eyes opened, bloodshot and irritated at the sight of 6:00AM on the alarm clock.
Ring, ring, ring.
Danny’s arm slithered out from under his pillow and grabbed the phone. It took all his delirious, sleepy effort to turn his head, pull the phone to the side of his face, and groan: “Hmmuuuuuuuuhhh?”
“Get up you little bitch! It’s game day!” The voice blared from the phone. “There’s gonna be a lot of people steppin’ up to you today, and I want you to rip their hearts out of their butts! You understand me!?”
“Diiiiiirk,” Danny addressed his brother. “It’s too early.”
“I…do not care, Danny! I’ve been working since 4AM! The day is halfway over, son!” Dirk screamed in a coffee-fueled excitement. Danny could hear the beeping of trucks in reverse and ambient construction sounds in the background. “But anyways, when’s the tournament start?”
“Noon,” Danny grumbled.
“You’re lucky I called, you usually get up at noon on Saturday’s.”
“No I don’t.”
“Ohhh, that’s right, you have your morning cartoons to watch.”
“Shut up.”
“Ha!” Dirk settled down. “Just wanted to call and wish you good luck. Sorry I can’t be there to watch today.”
“Don’t worry about it. I’ll only hate you forever.”
“Good! I was worried for a moment,” Dirk laughed. “Well, I gotta get back to work. Call me after the tournament.”
“Mmmkaaay,” Danny said.
“Before I go, are you gonna make out with that teacher? What’s her name? Ms. Kwami? Ms. Kaka…”
“Ms. Kantos.”
“Ms. Kantos, yes! She’s a babe! Didn’t have any teachers like that when I was in high school.”
“No. I’m not going to make out with her.”
“Wussy.”
“Goodbye, Dirk.”
Danny could hear Dirk making animal noises as he slammed the phone back on its base. He smiled at his brother’s ridiculousness, missing it. Dirk was just a year out of high school and was already making a killing as a traveling, big-rig mechanic. He still lived with Danny and their parents, but his work always had him somewhere in the country and calling his little brother any time of day. He wasn’t exactly sure where he was calling from this time.
They grew up playing video games together, watching cartoons, playing sports, talking about girls, prank-calling their parents’ friends. The brothers were thick as thieves, but Danny thought he’d made a mistake telling Dirk about the crush he had on his teacher. An even bigger mistake was showing him a polaroid of Ms. Kantos. Dirk is yet to refrain from howling whenever she’s the topic of conversation.
Danny rolled onto his back and took a moment to wake up. Dirk was right, it was a big day and he needed to focus. Only his best would be enough to beat the competition, Danny thought to himself. But would it be enough to beat LUK?
LUK.
Thinking of the initials flared the leftover anxiety from the day before. It weighed on his heart, took his mind away from the other competitors, and nearly the game itself. Someone with a score of 10,000,000 is at the finish line. Is such a person even beatable? Should I even play? His thoughts betrayed him. Danny was more conscious of when they did that after attending a few of his mother’s meditation classes at the local junior college. He’d never win mired in such a negative malaise.
He lay there, breathing steadily to calm his mind, admiring the Michael Jordan poster he’d tacked to the ceiling above his bed (He was Dirk and Danny’s favorite NBA player). The superstar was soaring above his opponents, tongue out, and his arm cocked back before landing an emphatic slam dunk. It was MJ’s form of a ‘fatality,’ or finishing move in Mortal Kombat.
Danny stared and puzzled at how to beat LUK. After a long yawn and a stretch, the teen’s sleepy mind grabbed inspiration from the poster and yanked it back into his body in the form of a question. His eyes shot open and his mind pondered: W.W.J.D? What would Jordan do?
Blankets flew off the bed and Danny was changing before they landed. All I have to do, Danny thought to himself, is take it one match at a time. Screw LUK, I don’t have to worry about him until the end. Jordan won two championships by dismantling one team at a time in the playoffs. Not focusing on the game before or after, only the game at hand. And in that game, I will be as merciless as Jordan. He’s a champion. He’s a killer. And so am I!
One match, one opponent, one punch at a time. Then focus on LUK. Danny smiled at the thought as he slipped on his black, white, and red Chicago Bulls windbreaker pants and matching tank top with Jordan on it – of course. He slipped on his Air Jordan’s, his Macho Man Randy Savage sunglasses, and placed his turquoise, light purple, and white Mastercraft snapback hat on his head backwards.
The teen looked at himself in the mirror, nodded. Yea, this is what a killer looks like, Danny thought to himself. Confidence radiated from the teen and projected an image of the DA blade tucked into his pants. It looked good there. Next, Ms. Kantos approached from behind dressed in Princess Lea’s brass bikini from Return of the Jedi. She wrapped her arms around his leg and looked up, meek and looking for a man’s man to protect her. The teen unsheathed the DA blade and held it high above his head.
Danny nodded at the daydream taking place in the mirror.
“Mr. Wire, are you going to win the tournament for little ol’ me?” Ms. Kantos asked.
“Oh yea, baby,” Danny gave a last look at his fantastical delusion. Winning would impress Ms. Kantos. She was nerdy like him. He wanted to win the tournament as much for her as for himself. And if he needed to defeat LUK to win her affection, he wouldn’t fail. At least that’s what he told himself.
After watching so many Bulls games, so many interviews, he readied himself just like his favorite team.
“WHAT TIME IS IT!?” He yelled.
“GAME TIME! WOO!” He responded to himself.
After scarfing two bowls of Lucky Charms, Danny hopped on his bike, and sped off to the Oakville Mall. The sun shined in a cloudless blue sky, birds chirped, and the smell of fresh-cut grass filled the suburban air. A perfect summer day to shut oneself inside and fight others to the death in a video game.
A Michael Jordan rookie card cloth-pinned to the back tire rattled louder and louder as Danny picked up speed in the mall parking lot. The closer he got, the more his excitement grew, the more potent his adrenaline became. Focus consumed his mind while his body subconsciously jumped the sidewalk, parked his bike, and removed Jordan rookie card. Suddenly, the focus was spoiled by a shout. A twinge of sadness prodded his heart when his ears registered it wasn’t Ms. Kantos’ voice.
“Hey, Wire you little puke,” a pimple-faced teen with messy, blonde hair approached. “You know better than to compete in MY tournament.”
Danny sighed. Turned to his nemesis, Luthor Kymes. “Do I, Luthor? Do I?” Danny said looking at the overweight teen and his two lackies that were just as portly and pale of skin as Luthor. “Everybody’s allowed to compete in this tournament.”
“To be honest, I didn’t think your food stamping family could afford the cover charge. That $10 must have set you back quite a bit,” Luthor said drawing cackles from the lackies. “Such a waste. Why spend money getting your ass beat in the game when I can do that for you out here for free?”
Luthor had it out for Danny ever since the 6th grade when Danny presented a Michael Jordan action figure in show and tell and claimed HIM to be a better player than Isiah Thomas. The information was not well received by Piston fan, Luthor, and he’s been escalating the hatred ever since. Dirk was always there as a deterrent; however, big brother was gone now and Luthor’s harassment was relentless. At school, in the summer, it found Danny everywhere and carried a very real prospect of harm. Especially now that the Bulls had defeated the Pistons in this year’s NBA playoffs.
The nemesis was also a self-proclaimed ‘master’ with Scorpion – an undead ninja from Mortal Kombat – that hogged the game at the arcade for hours after school and on weekends. Dying didn’t matter as much to a kid with an endless supply of quarters from wealthy, Porsche-dealership-owning parents. As much as Danny hated to admit it, Luthor’s skill almost matched his arrogance. Always trash talking his opponents to get in their head, and worth worrying about in the tournament.
In this three-dimensional reality, Danny was a skinny, vulnerable teen that’d only kissed a girl once under the jungle gym in the 5th grade. But the rules are different in Mortal Kombat. Behind the control sticks and buttons, he could stand up for himself. Take on any opponent. It was an even playing field that bolstered an uncharacteristic confidence that manifested in the skinny, vulnerable teen’s words.
“So that’s your plan? Beat me up out here so I can’t play? Danny said. “Are you really that scared of me ripping your heart out of your butt in front of everybody?”
Red flooded Luthor’s pale, acne-ridden face (compliments of the hours of gaming and consuming candy, pizza-pockets, and soda all-the-while). “Scared of you?” Luthor spat on Danny’s tank top. “How about I break your fingers instead to show you just how scared I am? We’ll see how much of a smart-ass you are then.”
Danny took off his glasses, almost forgetting he’d only ever been in virtual fights and that Luthor outweighed him by sixty pounds. A voice in the back of Danny’s head shouted he’d get destroyed by Luthor in a real fight. That he needed to walk away from the confrontation and into the mall. But that voice was drowned out by his pride telling him to stay put and stand up for himself. A voice that sounded oddly like Dirk.
“Haywire!” A familiar voice shouted. “Don’t you boys have a tournament to get to?”
Danny, Luthor, and the lackies all turned their attention to the sidewalk. Ms. Kantos approached, and the teens gawked, their sexual urges rendering them clueless about everything that’d led up to that moment. All they could focus on was her ‘quartermaster’ uniform. A white, latex shirt with a popped collar and no sleeves. It was cut just below her rib cage, revealing tiny creases of ab muscles and a fire flower tattoo from Super Mario on her inner-right hip bone. The white, latex pants looked painted on her legs and a fanny-pack full of quarters rattled with her ever step. Danny also noticed her hair pulled back in a tight, ponytail and the blue makeup around her gorgeous eyes. It was as if she was walking straight out of his fantasies.
“C’mon, nerds. Follow me,” she said paying no mind to the teens and where their thoughts resided. She’d been teaching hormonal boys for a while and accepted their minds were always in the gutter. “It’s time for you guys to kill each other in a dignified manner.”
Yet again, Ms. Kantos came to Danny’s rescue. The butterflies in his stomach were going nuts, and the mystique shrouding the object of the teen’s desire increased to an unbearable level. She was the perfection he wanted. He’d give up the perfection needed to beat LUK any day to have her. Ms. Kantos. Danny’s mind tortured him as he walked behind her. The boys’ eyes were glued to the movement of her back muscles and the dimples above her bottom as she walked. God, I’m such a pervert, Danny thought making futile attempts to look away while Ms. Kantos led them to the arcade.
“ARE YOU READY FOR A BLOODBATH!?” The arcade owner screamed behind a megaphone. “LORD KNOWS I AM!”
A crowd of high schoolers formed a semi-circle around the arcade entrance. Their cheers echoed throughout the long, neon-lit corridor of the two-story mall. The noise raised shoppers’ curiosity and pulled them into the frenzy like gravity.
“The tournament will work THUSLY!” The arcade owner – appropriately dressed up as Shang Tsung – continued. “This is do or die! Each fight consists of the Mortal Kombat standard of best two out of three rounds. Winners advance, losers go to Hot Dog on a Stick!”
“What’s wrong with that?” Shouted an employee from the Hot Dog on a Stick kiosk ten yards away.
“Shut up, Randy!” The arcade owner snapped.
Danny waited anxiously with the rest of the competitors while the arcade owner rambled on. He noticed the crowd growing beyond the semi-circle of students. Shoulders rubbed against one another as spectators filled every space along the railings leading up the zig-zagging staircase and along the second level walkway. The cheers, the anticipation of violence and death, it all made Danny feel like a modern-day gladiator. Except this arena smelled like hot dogs on sticks and orange smoothies, not blood.
“We have two Mortal Kombat machines for each side of the bracket!” The arcade owner stepped to the side and gestured toward the white board with brackets and a horribly drawn Mortal Kombat logo in the middle. “The winner of each bracket will face one another in a semi-final match. The winner of THAT match will face the powerful, the ruthless, the almighty…LUK! Only by defeating LUK will one win the fabulous $1,000 grand prize, wield the Dragon Tail Blade, and be crowned the true King of Summer! LORDY!”
He thrust the golden dagger into the air for the crowd to whoop and cheer at. “Now, without further ado, I’ll take the $10 entry fee and write your names on the bracket.”
The line moved quick. Soon, it was Danny’s turn to pay. “Mr. Wire. Glad you can make it,” the owner said, sweating profusely in his outfit. “$10 please.”
He couldn’t feel the money in his pocket. The teen’s heart stopped beating for a moment until he unclenched his fist. A damp ten-dollar bill lay wadded in his palm.
“Uh, thanks,” the owner unwrinkled the bill, placed it in a pouch, and scribbled ‘Wire’ on the top right of the bracket. “You’re on that side. Good luck.”
Danny was tired of hearing ‘good luck.’ LUK wasn’t good, LUK was waiting for him at the finish line – ready to spoil his ambition and fantasy.
The mess of cables spilling out of either Mortal Kombat machine caught his attention. They fed into their respective projectors that displayed the game screens across bedsheets hanging from above the arcade. Every move – or mistake – would be seen by the swelling crowd behind him.
A few minutes later the brackets were filled, and the tournament was ready to begin. Meanwhile, the entirety of the Oakville Mall flooded in to watch. Shops and boutiques closed for the afternoon, children sat atop their parents’ shoulders, and the entire second level of the mall focused downward. It was as big a crowd as Danny had ever seen. Their cheers and energy seeped into him. For a moment, he could empathize with what Michael Jordan must feel every game. It was intoxicating.
“On the left machine we have Luthor Kymes versus Haden Billard,” the owner shifted positions. “On the right, we have Danny Wire versus Carl Newsom. Good luck!”
Enough of the good LUK, Danny thought to himself.
The teen and his opponent stepped to the machine, others huddled around to watch over their shoulders. This was it. Time to shine. His sweaty palms gripped the joystick and watched the highlighted square shift from character to character. Carl’s square landed on Kano – a cyborg character with great power. Meanwhile, Danny’s square landed on the best character – in his not-so-humble opinion – Sub-zero. A ninja garbed in black and light blue with the ability to freeze opponents and deal out massive amounts of damage.
After wiping his sweaty palms on his windbreaker pants, he was finally ready. Sub-zero took his fighting stance, Kano took his, and the word ‘FIGHT’ appeared between them.
Round one was horrendous. Danny watched Sub-zero’s health meter deplete and his blood spew about the screen. He couldn’t land a punch, block, or hit Kano with an ice blast. It was as if he’d never put in hours of practice, studied combinations, or even played before. “You got the yips!” Dirk’s voice echoed in Danny’s head. It was how his brother described the nervousness that cripples one’s ability to perform adequately in sports.
Yea…I got the yips, alright. Danny thought to himself. After watching Kano win round one in flawless fashion, the teen dropped to the ground and started doing push-ups. The crowd murmured at the spectacle.
“Um, dude. We’re about to start the next round,” Carl said looking down.
“Just a second,” Danny said. “Just shaking off the nerves.”
“Whatever you say, but I’m starting whether you’re ready or not,” Carl said watching the screen indicate the start of the next round. Ready…FIGHT!
Doing pushups was an old trick Dirk taught Danny to get rid of nerves. Dirk was a basketball player in high school, and his pregame ritual consisted of 100 pushups. He’d get weird stares from his crowd, but exerting a little energy kept him loose and focused. Danny thought he’d apply the same principle now that he was one round away from elimination.
The teen managed to complete 15 pushups before he heard Shang Tsung yell “FIGHT!”
Danny popped up with beads of sweat on his forehead and a smile. This time, his hands and thoughts were steady. The game reassumed its familiarity to him and Sub-zero’s fighting reflected that. Round two was everything the game was meant to be…fun. Kano couldn’t land a punch, and Sub-zero dispatched him with brutal efficiency in 30 seconds.
Kano managed to land a kick in round 3, but Sub-zero’s offense was inexorable. The crowd loved what they saw and cheered loudly when Danny froze his opponent and shattered his body into bloody chunks with a final uppercut.
“FATILITY!” The game blared.
“Danny Wire advances to round two!” Screamed the arcade owner.
Danny sighed in relief, shook Carl’s hand. He stepped to the side to let the next competitors fight and caught Ms. Kantos staring at him. She gave an over-emphatic golf clap and returned to exchanging dollars for quarters in the arcade. It was near-empty save for a few perverted old men playing Pac Man while staring at the beautiful quartermaster.
“That’s right! Get off my machine!” Shouted Luthor from the other side. “Who’s next!?”
Danny folded his arms and watched the bully bump his opponent’s shoulder as he stepped away from the game. The crowd’s boos seemed to stoke Luthor’s arrogance. Jeers grew louder as Luthor panned two middle fingers across the crowd. He soaked in the hate, loved it even. As if it was the only emotion he was used to receiving, and if he didn’t, he could create it easily enough.
The fights resumed and Danny took mental notes on each opponent. Their tendencies, flaws, aggressiveness, and…and Ms. Kantos. Danny’s eyes bounced from the projection screens to Ms. Kantos. Back and forth, undecisive. He wanted to focus, think about Sub-zero and his combinations, but every time Danny made headway in his thoughts, he’d find Ms. Kantos staring at him before quickly averting her gaze. It drove him mad, feeling the nerves – and other urges – taking over again. Before he knew it, he was on the ground doing pushups again.
Hours passed. Challengers stepped up and Danny knocked them down. Some were harder than others, however, Danny’s mindset had shifted. Rather than a fight, each opponent was a gory puzzle he had to solve with Sub-zero. Each opponent had a missing piece and the only way to discover it was to lose the first round of every match. A necessary sacrifice for Danny to observe more moves, combinations, and sow confidence in his opponent. In the second and third rounds, Danny melted that confidence like an ice cube with an onslaught of offense and anticipation. Victory was inevitable, like how solving puzzles was only a matter of time.
Soon, it was time to solve his most difficult and hated puzzle, Luthor. The bully’s hours of gaming yielded deft skill, there was no denying it. Danny analyzed his playing style, round after round, committing his every button press to memory. Luthor would burp in his opponents’ face, curse at them, even bump them when the arcade owner wasn’t looking. By the time he made it to the semi-championship, the crowd was filled with angst that nobody would beat the obnoxious teen.
“I want LUK! I want LUK!” He yelled repeatedly.
“LUK’s gonna have to wait,” the arcade owner said in the megaphone. “Because now we’ve reached the semi-finals!” The crowd was in a frenzy. “And your opponent is Danny Wire and the frozen fists of Sub-zero!”
“DA-NNY, DA-NNY!” The crowd roared. Hearing the love for Danny spread an insidious smile across Luthor’s face. He hated the crowd as much as they hated him, and destroying Danny would all-too-sweet a victory over each and every one of them.
A single Mortal Kombat machine was pushed to the middle of the arcade opening, and both projectors displayed its screen. Danny and Luthor stood on either side of it and the arcade owner.
“This semi-championship match will follow the same rules as every other match of this tournament!” The arcade owner bellowed over frenzied crowd. “First player to take two rounds is the winner! Boys…choose your characters!”
He stepped aside, and the crowd pushed forward. Danny panned his head around the arcade and behind him. Where was Ms. Kantos?
“Scorpion,” said the low, muffled voice of the game’s commentator.
Did she really leave? Danny thought. He teetered his head left and right to find her in the sea of people around the island he and Luthor were standing on.
“Hurry up and choose, dipshit,” Luthor barked.
Danny squinted at him. He could tell the bully was anxious, eager to win, not used to waiting for anything. With 50 seconds left on the timer to choose one’s character – before the game chooses for you – Danny decided to get the crowd a little more excited. That’s what Michael Jordan would have done.
“Enjoy what time you have left in this tournament, big boy,” Danny said dropping to the floor and doing pushups. Just as he thought, the crowd loved it, chanting “DA” on his way down, and “NNY” on his way up. Nervousness fled his body. Danny didn’t need to see Luthor to know he was in his head, his ears confirmed that listening to him screaming at the crowd to shut up.
“Sub-zero,” the game’s voice said after Luthor slammed his fist on Danny’s side of the machine to select the character.
“Awww, you had to ruin the fun,” Danny rose.
Then an enchanting scent wisped about Danny’s nostrils, taking him away for a moment. A perfume he’d grown accustomed to over the school year. It turned his insides to mush whenever he smelled it, made his knees weak. He turned and confirmed the scent’s source.
“Heywire,” said Ms. Kantos, standing behind his right shoulder.
“I thought you left,” he smiled, feeling a warmth in his heart.
“Not on your life, kid. Just had to take a dump,” she smiled, delighting in her vulgarity.
“Thanks for coming back to watch, Ms. Kantos,” Danny said.
He turned back to the game. He and Luthor – rather, Sub-zero and Scorpion – would be fighting atop a bridge with spikes waiting at the bottom to impale whoever falls off.
“It’s summertime, Wire,” she whispered, “Call me Lexi.”
Goosebumps shot up Danny’s spine. The way she was talking to him, was it real? No, this resembled his fantasies too much to be real, Danny assured himself.
“Now, kick his ass,” she continued. Her words as alluring in his ear as her scent was to his nose. “Wouldn’t want to disappoint me, would you?”
Danny turned back again as Shang Tsung prepared them to fight. Lexi gave him puppy dog eyes and pushed out her bottom lip to show how sad she’d be.
“I wouldn’t dream of it,” Danny said.
“Ready…FIGHT!” Yelled Shang Tsung.
Scorpion launched a rope at Sub-zero and yelled his signature “Get over here!”
Sub-zero jumped out of the way.
“Last minute tips from you bitch aren’t gonna help you, Wire,” Luthor said. “I haven’t lost a round yet in this tournament. Your ass is grass.”
The warmth in Danny’s heart began to burn at the statement. It did, however, break him from hormonal urges and returned him to the fight. Luthor was fast, relentless in his attacks, adept with his character. Unfortunately for Luthor, Scorpion was also Dirk’s character. Danny was beyond knowledgeable of the character’s attacks and combinations after endless bouts with his brother, and after observing how Luthor played with the undead ninja, it was all over but the swearing.
Despite his fury, slaps against the side of the machine for not working properly, and curses at Danny and the crowd, Luthor dealt no damage to his opponent. The first round was a flawless victory for Sub-zero. Only until halfway through round two did Luthor – and then the crowd – realize he was being toyed with. There was no first round sacrifice like Luthor expected, simply a reckoning. Outclassed in every conceivable way and with only a sliver of health left, Luthor lashed out in desperation.
Danny never saw the punch coming, too busy finishing the match. Luthor had stepped back, hurled it, and connected across Danny’s jaw. The crowd – now a mob – restrained Luthor immediately and began dragging him away.
“Wait!” Danny said from the ground, rubbing his jaw. The mob halted, Luthor squirmed, and Danny pointed at the game screen. Sub-zero stood with his fist in the air and a bloody font spread across the screen. It read ‘Sub-zero Wins!’ Lexi helped Danny rise to his feet. Luthor screamed as the mob engulfed him and spat him out at the feet of mall security.
“You okay?” Lexi asked.
“You good, Danny,” The arcade owner walked around the back side of the machine. “That was a cheap shot, man. He’s never coming back here.”
The teen nodded to them. He was no stranger the Luthor’s fist, knowing the sting would subside sometime tomorrow.
“Alright then,” the arcade owner smiled, turned to audience that’d returned to their state of a crowd instead of a mob. “Ladies and gentlemen, the best of the bracket is none other than Danny Wire! Can he take a punch or what!?”
The crowd roared, and disposable cameras flashed from all around. “I heard a news crew is here,” Lexi said behind Danny.
His ears rang from the commotion. All he could do was smile and wave, nearly forgetting there was another match. His nemesis was vanquished and he savored the victory for a moment longer before the megaphone spewed an inconvenient reality. The tournament was not over.
“Are you ready for the championship match!?” The arcade owner screamed over the ruckus crowd. “Are you ready to see LUK!? The undefeated champion!? The queen of the Mortal Kombat leaderboard?”
Danny cocked his head. Queen? It made no sense. What was he even talking about?
“Behold our competitors vying for the status of King – or Queen – of Summer! Danny Wire and LUK!”
Danny turned to his left, expecting a competitor to appear. They didn’t. Instead, his competitor dragged her fingers across his shoulders from right to left. He closed his eyes, hoping if he didn’t see her it wouldn’t be real, but LUK’s alluring scent penetrated his nose. The warmth it used to inspire had turned to dread.
“Heywire,” Lexi Kantos said. “I was hoping you’d be the one I was fighting in the championship.”
She saw the dumbstruck look on the teen’s face and shrugged in her latex uniform drawing half the crowd’s attention. A flurry of emotions washed over the teen. His spine shivered, skin beaded with sweat, heart beating irregularly. For a moment he thought he was going to vomit.
“H-how…” he muttered.
“You knew I was a video game nerd too,” she raised her voice enough to be heard through the bombardment of cheers and screams coming from behind. “I’ve won Street Fighter competitions, Pac-Man, Road Rash, you name it. When summer rolls around, video games are how this girl makes a supplemental income.”
Lexi could see the storm of emotions brewing in her opponent, and he couldn’t decide which one to focus and feel. Betrayal, anger, the hollow happiness for making it this far, the bizarre relief after discovering who LUK is, and a coinciding misery now knowing it’s been Ms. Lexi Kantos all along.
“So what does the ‘U’ in LUK stand for?” He asked dryly after swallowing the lump in his throat.
“Ursula,” she said.
He nodded, toggled the square around Sub-zero and pressed the punch button to select.
“Why didn’t you tell me?” He asked, his voice at the brink of shattering.
“And spoil the surprise for you in the championship round? I don’t think so, Danny Wire. A girl’s gotta keep her edge against the best Mortal Kombat player in Oakville,” she said nudging him in the ribs. “I knew it’d be us two here in the end, so let’s have some fun.”
“Fun?” Danny’s angst turned his head.
“Yea, fun,” she said. Lexi stood only to Danny’s nose, stared up intently into his eyes. A stare he wasn’t used to, one that made him feel like they were the only two left on earth. “It’s a video game. Meant for fun. So let’s have it shall we? What, you never once imagined taking me one-on-one?”
Danny couldn’t tell her half the things he imagined doing with her. However, he recalled all the conversations they had after school. How in-depth she knew the game and how to win. Why was it a stretch that she’d actually like playing the game? It wasn’t, and Danny felt stupid for not connecting the dots earlier. After a deep breath, acceptance extinguished the fire of betrayal spreading around in his stomach. He smirked to mask the lingering irritation and angst for Lexi Ursula Kantos.
“I guess I really haven’t,” Danny admitted watching her square move around the characters.
“Am I not good enough to imagine?” She said.
“No! You are! You totally are, I uhh, I…” Danny’s words stumbled out of his mouth.
Lexi’s giggles halted the teen’s rambling. Play mental games, huh? Danny thought to himself. Time to focus. Jordan wouldn’t let this happen before a championship.
“Sub-zero,” said the ominous Mortal Kombat game voice.
“Wow, really?” Danny said.
“Blue’s my favorite color,” Lexi said. “Like your eyes.”
Danny’s smirk widened with that.
“Two Sub-zero’s!? This will definitely be a match to remember ladies and gents!” The arcade owner screamed. “Let the championship round commence!”
As if on que, Shang Tsung yelled: “Ready…FIGHT!”
Lexi’s Sub-zero sprang to life and hurled a volley of punches and kicks. All were in combinations Danny was familiar with because they were his. He reversed engineered the attacks and his Sub-zero defended them taking minimal damage.
She managed to freeze him and land an uppercut that took a chunk away from Danny’s health meter above the screen. He cocked his head. She was good, very good, he thought. 10,000,000 points good. But so am I!
Danny responded with his own offense. This time jumping more, raining down kicks and forcing Lexi to defend. He landed some damage before she rolled underneath him and switched positions on the screen. Now Danny was fighting left to right instead of right to left like he’d been doing the entire tournament.
“Don’t blink,” she said, her right-hand mashing buttons, her left toggling the joystick in various directions.
Lexi’s Sub-zero unleashed ice blast after ice blast. Blocking was useless, Danny knew, so his Sub-zero jumped over them in a forward motion – as Lexi anticipated. He could only watch as Lexi waited on the ground with more damage to inflict. Danny grimaced, knowing too late the chess-like move he played into. She chipped away at his health meter until there was only a sliver left. Meanwhile, hers was a little over half-filled.
The crowd was beside itself, cheering on Danny as he made Lexi earn every bit of her round one victory. He managed to knock her health meter down to a quarter before she defeated him.
“Round one goes to LUK!” The arcade owner yelled. “Holy Moses what a fight we’re seeing so far, folks! Does Danny Wire have what it takes to bounce back?”
The teen asked himself the same question. His mind raced over the first round, Lexi’s strategies, how they mirrored his own, and their aggressiveness. His mind raced to find a way to beat her and finally rested on the only answer it could muster: There was no way to win.
“Any tips on how to beat you?” Danny asked.
“Yup,” she slapped his bottom. “Don’t lose.”
Danny rolled his eyes and admired his opponent. LUK was a worthy adversary that not even Michael Jordan could beat. The experience shattered his view of her as Ms. Kantos the history teacher. Would he ever be able to return to her class after this? Danny mused. And it was that thought that provided cathartic release from the mindset of inevitable loss.
The last thing Ms. Kantos was teaching them in class before summer let out was WWI, a complete and utter war of attrition. He was as aggressive in his attacks, but because she was faster, he’d be the one taking the damage. Slow it down, he told himself, let her come to me and use the clock as a weapon.
Lexi saw a devious grin spread across Danny’s face. Her eyebrows pinched, and a voice called out louder than the roar of the crowd. “DIRTY DAAAAAAAN!”
Danny and Lexi looked back.
“YAYAYAYA!” The barbaric screaming continued.
They looked up and there was Dirk on the second level with his fist in the air. His other hand held tight to the railing he’d hopped over and outstretched his arm so he could lean further into the airspace. Security had no chance of getting to him, the crowd wouldn’t allow it.
“Who the hell is that? Lexi asked.
Danny took a moment to laugh at his brother’s hip thrusts into the air. “Oh…that’s just my brother.”
“Swell guy,” she said turning back to the game.
“WHAT TIME IS IT!?” Dirk yelled, knowing Danny was down a round.
“GAME TIME, WOO!” Danny screamed back. The crowd went ballistic.
“Round 2…FIGHT!” Said Shang Tsung.
The adrenaline in Danny urged him to attack, be bold, put on a bloody show. Putting on a show, however, didn’t always translate to victory, so Danny stayed in his corner and launched his own volley of ice blasts.
Lexi countered with her own. The blasts cancelled each other out, and Danny kept them coming. The pattern continued until Lexi fainted a blast and attacked from above. Danny ducked, waited, and landed a perfectly timed uppercut. Lexi’s Sub-zero flew in the air, blood splattering against the ground.
Rather than press the attack, Danny stayed put. Lexi’s health meter was down an eighth with 44 seconds to go. She attacked again with ice blasts. This time, Danny jumped over them without going forward. Another pattern they repeated for what seemed like a lifetime.
Danny noticed Lexi moving a little closer after each blast. Blast, move a step, blast move. He waited and jumped, anticipating and reaffirming her notion that he’d only be moving up and down. Painfully close now, she blasted and moved. Danny’s Sub-zero launched forward this time, flipped, and planted a foot in his opponent’s face. The other Sub-zero got up, punched, but Danny was already sweeping the legs out from under her.
This time, he retreated to the other side of the screen. She pressed the attack, he jumped over her and backed away blocking minor attacks and taking minor damage. 12 seconds left.
“Shit,” she muttered under her breath.
“That’s one for the classroom swear jar,” Danny japed.
“Put a lid on it, nerd,” she bit her upper lip as the crowd counted down from 10 to her first loss in recent memory.
“UN…BE…LIEVABLE! LUK has lost a round!” The arcade owner jumped up and down like a kid. “The championship is going to a third round! Do or die! Who will win!?”
The crowd was all-in. This wasn’t about a video game, this was competition, excitement, fun. Danny checked his pulse on his neck, it pounded against his fingers. He was alive.
“Shall we?” Lexi said.
“We shall,” Danny said.
“Round 3…FIGHT!” Shang Tsung said.
Both competitors stayed in their corners and shot ice blasts again. Danny knew how long an opponent would be frozen for, and how long it takes a character to cross the screen, so he thought he’d take a risk.
Instead of blasting to counter Lexi, he took it. A light blue shade covered Sub-zero while the counterpart approached. Closer, closer she got. Again, Danny waited. Lexi’s Sub-zero was in the middle of a roundhouse kick when Danny’s Sub-zero thawed. He blocked with no time to spare, took a smidge of damage, and countered with an ice blast. The teen executed a perfect combination of kicks and punches that took a quarter of Lexi’s health.
The crowd roared, Danny wiped his hands quickly on his windbreaker pants.
“C’mon Danny-baby! Kick er’ aaaass!” Dirk bellowed from the second level, still hanging dangerously off the rails.
Danny saw he was winning and allowed himself to hope. In that moment, Lexi turned into a different competitor. She amplified her offense and wasn’t reckless with it. Every move was calculated perfection. Danny blocked punches high, crouched for sweeping kicks. Sub-zero stood firm, but before he knew it, his health meter was half gone.
“War of attrition, huh?” Lexi taunted. “I’m glad you were paying attention in class.”
The teen couldn’t afford to stay on the defensive and began fainting his retreats and attacking. He managed to get her health meter to the midpoint as well before she countered an attack with an uppercut. Danny’s health meter was at a quarter.
Options were draining as fast as his health. Danny couldn’t win by squaring off in the middle of the map, so he retreated to the far right. Lexi’s Sub-zero pursued like a cat towards a cornered mouse. From the crowd’s perspective, it looked as if it were the last move of a desperate player to corner themselves. 30 seconds remained, and only Dirk knew what Danny was up to. Knowing his brother’s chance at victory clung on whether or not Lexi took the bait.
Lexi’s Sub-zero launched a high kick. Rather than duck, Danny’s Sub-zero stepped back. He knew the map well enough to know how many steps in either direction the screen would allow before reaching the edge. The trap was perfect. While Lexi’s Sub-zero finished the roundhouse, Danny froze him with a blast and jumped to the left side – now Lexi was the one cornered.
The crowd’s roar was muffled by his heartbeat. This was it, his chance to beat LUK, and his fingers mashed the machines buttons so hard he thought they’d sink into the machine.
A flurry of punches and kicks rained down on Lexi. Her character would block but couldn’t retreat. Lexi’s time and health were running out. 10 seconds left, both with less than a quarter health. 5 seconds left. Danny was a punch away. He was going to win! He was going to be the King of Summer, wield the DTA Dagger, score $1,000, live up to Michael Jordan’s expectations. Victory was his in one last punch. He pressed the button, watched his Sub-zero launch the punch, and froze.
Lexi had ducked with 3 seconds left and launched a lower ice blast. She followed with an uppercut draining Danny’s health meter.
“FINISH HIM!” Shang Tsung commanded.
Lexi mashed a quick sequence of buttons, and Danny watched her character rip Sub-zero’s heart out. It was as if the game knew how he was feeling in that moment and displayed it to him. Loss. Pain. Disbelief. It all swirled around his numb body while his mind was mired in a silent malaise.
Slowly, the cheers from the crowd made its way into his consciousness. He even heard shouts and ‘awww’s’ of disappointment at his loss. The sentiment didn’t register with him, neither did the fact his hand was still clutching the joystick. His head bowed, his eyes noticed there wasn’t a gaping hole in his chest where Lexi had torn his heart out, although it felt like it.
The screen blinked in front of him. It wanted initials to coincide with a score of 9,896,544. 2nd place, and five million ahead of 3rd. He and LUK were in a league of their own. Danny toggled a DW and entered his initials before Lexi popped his bubble of self-loathing.
She grabbed his shoulders, spun him around, grabbed his right hand, and held it high. The crowd cheered for him. The underdog’s cheeks were shiny from tears.
“I’ve never seen a better matchup in this game in all my days of an arcade owner,” said the arcade owner. “That was truly incredible! One for the record books! I mean…just look at those scores! But alas! There can only be one victor…and her name is LUK!”
Lexi gave a deep bow, raised, and spun a number one around her head like a lasso while yelling, “Whoo-hooo!”
Her charisma drew laughs from the crowd, as did her victory dance where she turned and shimmied left and right. Danny couldn’t help but laugh under his breath. He hated that though, laughing while he was in the middle of being sad.
“However…HOW-EVER!” The arcade owner said. “Having an employee of the Dragon Tail Arcade, that also happens to be my daughter, win the King of Summer Tournament would be a gross conflict of interest. Wouldn’t you agree?”
The crowd murmured its approval.
“Therefore! I award the DTA Blade and these 1,000 smackeroos to Danny Wire!” He shouted. “I dub thee, Danny Wire, the PRINCE of Summer! All hail the prince!”
The crowd shouted in unison, “ALL HAIL!” They cheered for him, applauded him as he wanted, yet he felt hallow, undeserving. He lost, and that’s all that mattered to him. Not the blade, his made-up title, he lost to LUK. He gave his best attempt at gratitude and smiled back at the crowd.
When the claps subsided, Danny walked to the arcade owner. “Here ya go, kid. Great job today,” he said handing him the blade and an envelope full of cash. “Don’t feel too bad, I’ve never beaten her at anything.”
He gave a sad smirk and disappeared into the crowd without saying a word to him or Lexi. Hands patted him as he walked through his admirers. A few little kids even stopped him for his autograph which cheered him up some. When he finally emerged out of the crowd, Dirk was there waiting for him with his arms crossed.
“She gotchya, man,” he said with a shrug. “Nothing much you could have done about that one. That woman was a buzzsaw.”
“Didn’t think you were making it today,” Danny said.
“And miss this? No way, Jose,” Dirk said walking side-by-side with his brother on their way out the mall doors. “I was only three hours away, so I hauled ass in the service truck to get here.”
“Sorry the trip was for nothing,” Danny said pitying himself.
“Like hell it was for nothing. I haven’t gotten that excited since the Bulls were in the playoffs. This shit was raaaa-di-caaaal,” he shook the ‘hang-loose’ gesture on his hand left and right. “Besides, now we have some money to burn, and you’re paying for the big, juicy burgers we’re about to scarf.”
Danny unlocked his bike and walked it towards Dirk’s truck. “Dean’s Frosty?”
“Where else?” Dirk said slapping the hood.
Danny tossed his bike in the back of his truck and the brothers sped off to get their burgers. Unseen in the rearview mirror was Lexi standing outside the mall entrance with her arms crossed, her somber expression, her wanting heart, and a Michael Jordan rookie card tumbling in the air.
The Wires gorged themselves on burgers, fries, and milkshakes. In between barbaric bites, Danny told Dirk about how the tournament went. He explained what happened with Luthor, what the spotlight felt like, how good Ms. Kantos was at Mortal Kombat, and how he was left in shambles from the experience.
“Dude, that was the craziest fight I’ve ever seen,” Dirk’s words were muffled by the triple-cheeseburger he was chewing on. “You two could fight 100 times and I bet you’d win 50 of em’.”
Danny dipped a bundle of fries in his milkshake and stuffed them in his mouth as he pondered. 50 might be ambitious, he thought. One win would suffice, and he wished it would have happened this afternoon.
When they were finished, they returned home to lie down on the living room couches and let their bodies process the fried food, grease, and sugar they’d consumed.
As if to torture him, Danny’s mind replayed losing the fight over and over. Accompanying the vision was the recollection of Ms. Kantos from the corner of his eye when they were competing. The intensity and focus in her beautiful eyes, how deftly her hands moved pressing buttons and maneuvering the joystick. Thinking of her was torturous. A needle prodding his heart, and Danny was incapable of stopping it – much like he couldn’t since the moment he met her.
Knowing their parents wouldn’t be back home for another couple days, Dirk rolled a joint to ease his brother’s mind. He then turned the TV to America’s Funniest Home Videos.
“This is my sad-day remedy, Danny-boy,” Dirk said lighting the joint. “That Danny Tanner is one funny son of a bitch.”
“You mean Bob Saget?” Danny said.
“Yea, yea. Bob Saget, whatever,” Dirk said taking a drag.
He exhaled.
Knock, knock, knock.
Danny and Dirk glanced at each other, confused.
“Go see who it is,” Dirk said taking another drag.
Danny tip-toed to the door and looked through the peephole. On the other side was a big blue eye looking back into it.
He unlocked the deadbolt and opened the door.
“M-Ms. Kantos, what are you doing here?” Danny said, his heart began to race like it did in the championship match. She’d since changed out of her quartermaster attire and into a tank top and jeans.
She took a moment to smile at him before answering. “You left this at the mall, thought it looked important,” she produced the Michael Jordan rookie card. “And didn’t I tell you to call me Lexi?”
Danny’s eyes widened, happy to have his card back, yet emotionally caught like a deer in the headlights. Unsure about what to say, where to move, how to react. Simply dumbstruck.
“Oh. Um, I’m sorry,” he said.
Lexi sniffed, winced, and peered around Danny’s shoulder. “So are you just going to stand there or invite me in to join you?”
Am I in one of my mirror fantasies? Danny asked himself standing aside. Lexi passed him and her scent passed under his nostrils again.
“That better be the good stuff, I haven’t smoked since college,” Lexi said walking into the living room and plopping on the couch.
Dirk sat up, stared at Danny then back at Lexi. “And you are?”
“Danny’s history teacher, Ms. Kantos,” she said leaning over and swiped the joint out of Dirk’s hand.
“Teacher, huh?” Dirk said. “Don’t you think doing drugs with one of your students is a little unprofessional?”
“Yup,” she took a drag. “But humans are entitled to their stupidity, so long as they’re aware of the consequences. Whether they’re ready to face them or not is irrelevant. Consequences are inexorably subsequent to any and all actions. Wouldn’t you agree, Dirk?”
“I suppose I do,” Dirk shrugged, nodded. “Wish I had a teacher like you in high school.”
“I’m sure,” she said passing the joint to Danny as he sat next to her on the couch.
The three eased into hours of lively conversation. The laughing chipped away at calcified sadness covering Danny’s heart. Talking and laughing with Lexi was natural, easy. Their conversation shifted from topic to topic, keeping all three locked into the present. Danny noticed her hand nudging against his leg as they sat. A slight touch, but it made his body shutter. As if she were transferring all her emotions through her pinky into his leg and into his heart.
In a break in the conversation, Lexi turned to Danny. “C’mon, Wire. We’re going on a little adventure,” she hopped off the couch and extended her hand.
Still a little high, Danny giggled, then noticed the proposition was sincere. He took her hand and she lifted him up with an unexpected strength for someone of her size.
“Can I come?” Dirk asked with a goofy smile.
“Not on your life, sport,” she hissed.
“Thought as much,” he said rolling another joint. “I’ll just stay here with Danny Tanner then.”
“Bob Saget,” Lexi said.
Dirk waved them off.
Parked in their driveway was a Toyota 4-Runner. Lexi opened the front seat and bowed low. “Your highness. ‘Tis my duty as a humble quartermaster to tend to the needs of the Prince of Summer.”
“Shut up…Lexi,” the word was difficult, unnatural. Like saying it would somehow shatter the moment.
Lexi crossed her arms. “It’s just a name, Wire,” She leaned on the door. “Say it again.”
Danny chuckled, shrugged. “Lexi.”
“Again!”
“Lexi!” Danny said louder.
The young teacher flung her hands in the air. “Was that so bad?”
Danny shook his head.
“Thought so. But don’t get any strange ideas, as soon school’s back in session it’s right back to Ms. Kantos.”
True, Danny did feel more at ease. Like he did before he knew she was LUK. He got in and buckled up, she did the same, and they were off.
“So where are we going?” He asked.
“I told you, on a little adventure,” she said with a devious smile.
They drove and drove, talked and talked – continuing the conversation from earlier with just the two of them. Talking and feeling completely at ease was as natural as breathing. They covered the tournament, life, Michael Jordan, their childhoods, Danny’s plans after high school, Lexi’s ruckus college experience at Chico State, everything. The teacher spared no details about her salacious past and seemed to relish how they made Danny’s blush.
Every turn was a different story, every stoplight a revealed secret, every acceleration and break were a shared laugh. It was one of those conversations that rendered time nonexistent, its passage only acknowledgeable by the sunset.
Danny had never connected with a girl on so many idiosyncrasies. Rather than one or two big connections, their relationship was a chainmail made of hundreds of tiny links that fit perfectly with one another. Lost in their little adventure, the teen hadn’t realized they’d returned to the Oakville Mall. Its neon pink and blue lights spread across the empty parking lot and into the sky. Just seeing it jabbed at Danny’s pride.
“You just had to bring me back here,” he said.
“What? You don’t want a rematch?” she said turning off the ignition.
“It’s closed.”
She jingled her lanyard of keys in front of him, got out of the vehicle, and walked towards the mall entrance. Danny followed.
“Is this illegal?” He asked.
“Does it feel illegal?” She said.
“A little.”
“Then it’s only a little illegal,” Lexi opened the doors, “C’mon, you big pansy.”
She took his hand and pulled him further into her adventure. Electricity from the afternoon’s events lingered in the empty, two-story corridor of the mall. Danny could hear the crowd’s roar echo off the walls and shiny floors that reflected the neon sign of the Dragon Tail Arcade.
Lexi unlocked the metal, security curtain on the storefront and lifted it. On the other side was the Mortal Kombat machine. Danny stared at it. The feeling of loss tried to ignite in his gut, but his competitiveness stamped it out. If she wanted a rematch, he was going to give her a rematch.
“Heywire,” Lexi flipped on the game. Its screen came to life, illuminating a sliver of the mall. “What do you wish happened today?”
The question took him by surprise.
“I wanted to win the tournament, of course,” he admitted. “But also wanted to beat LUK since he’s, well, the best. Then it turns out you’re LUK, which sort of caught me off-guard.”
“Being the arcade owner’s daughter does have its privileges. I’m in here all the time playing after I grade papers and got the high score one night after the schoolyear started. It was fun overhearing all you boys talk about LUK at school and how you wanted to beat him sooooo badly,” she caressed the machine with her fingers. “So, what did you think after finally meeting LUK?”
Another question that caught Danny off guard. There was a slight tension in the air he tried to quell with humor. “Aside from being a rad Mortal Kombat player, LUK would have been sent home if she wore that Quartermaster uniform to school.”
“Oh really? Sounds like your pervy mind has spent some time judging LUK’s ridiculous uniform.”
Danny’s heart and brain were trying to work together to assemble the right combination of words for his mouth to say. Meanwhile, the butterflies in his stomach spurred to life chopping the words into stutters. The teen settled for an ‘ummm.’
She tilted her head sideways, waiting patiently for Danny to put together a sentence.
“Y-yea. A little,” he said.
“Just a little?”
“Okay. More than a little,” he said. “A lot actually.”
“Funny, maybe LUK thinks about you a lot as well.”
He gave another ‘ummm.’ She giggled.
“Haha, I’ll stop torturing you,” she turned and selected Sub-zero. “Shall we?”
Danny’s eyebrows pinched. Was she being truthful, or just toying with him? He took a breath and selected Sub-zero too.
“It does suck when what you want to happen doesn’t happen, even when you do everything in your power to make it happen,” she said. “Sometimes there are things out of your control that hinder your desired outcome. Often those are things you never take into account. Like the willpower of another seeking something similar and the actions they’ve taken to make what they want to happen, happen. When it’s all said and done, all you can do is grow from whatever happens.”
The teen smirked at his teacher’s words. Playful as she was, she would often challenge him to think about things differently. Another link in the chainmail.
“I guess LUK wanted to win more than me,” Danny said watching the screen load. “She pressed the right buttons, and made her desire happen.”
“You think all LUK wanted to happen today was winning the tournament?” she said.
“Ummm,” he said.
“You’re yet to consider LUK’s actions.”
“I don’t understand,” Danny said. “What actions?”
“Oh…getting to know one of her students well,” she kept her eyes forward. “Teasing him, flirting with him, beating him at his favorite game in a massive tournament, going to his house and kidnapping him, driving for hours, then bringing him back to the scene of the crime...”
Danny was speechless. It never registered he was acting according to Lexi’s plans, her desires. She was in control.
“You know what I really want to happen has been happening all year long, and continues to happen right now,” She finally turned to him. “To be around you, and spend as much time with you as possible, to fall in love with you.”
Danny had only enough time to widen his eyes.
“Heywire,” she whispered, turned his shoulders, pulled his head down and kissed him. She tastes like cherries, Danny thought. Her hands held his head while his found her hips. Lexi pulled away for just a moment to smile and look into Danny’s eyes. Neither felt a shred of regret, only a reflection of the same love she felt for him, for her. After a moment to catch her breath, she pulled him in again. Her lips moved aggressively, her teeth nibbled his bottom lip while she ran her fingers through his hair. Danny’s hands moved boldly over Lexi’s body – with her guidance. Soon, she guided him to the arcade breakroom couch where they rematched over and over again. His fantasies had spilled out of his room mirror somehow. All he could do was lay there, love-drunk, and enjoying the spin of its inebriation.
“Was that your first time?” She asked pulling her jeans back over her legs.
Danny sat, gave a sheepish shrug, nodded.
“Don’t worry, I think you performed wonderfully, darling,” she kissed him on the forehead. “Besides, there’s only getting better from here.”
She put a finger to his lips, pulled him in for another long, passionate kiss.
“Trust me, I’ve put a lot of thought into this,” she said.
“Really? How lon—.”
“Since you first walked into my classroom,” she interrupted. “You’ve been the apple of my eye, Danny. I couldn’t help but fall for you and I had to accept that, that desire could ruin my career, put me in jail, or both. And you know what?”
“What?”
“It was worth it,” she leaned back on the breakroom table. “So here’s the deal, Sparky. We don’t speak a word of this to anyone. I know it’d be the coolest thing ever to tell your buddies you had sex with the history teacher, but you’re not. Your mouth will remain closed about us around others and we’re going to make this work because we won’t be stupid about it.”
Her words sent shivers down his spine. He liked her control, it made him feel safe, part of something bigger than himself.
“I just thought I was some stupid high schooler that had a crush on his teacher,” he said. “I never thought for a second you felt this way or that this was even possible.”
“You’re an incredible young man, Danny,” she smiled. “Of course I feel the same way, and in a few years we’ll be able to dispense of the secrecy.”
“Years? You mean…”
“I’m your girl,” she said. “As long as you’ll have me. For now, we’ll need to keep the secrecy. Date in secrecy, spend time in secrecy, rematch in secrecy.”
“Sounds dangerous,” Danny said tying his shoes.
“Danger is the spice of life,” she said.
“I thought it was variety?” he said.
“Trust me, I’ll make damned sure you won’t need variety in your life,” Lexi said walking to Danny with a fire in her eye. They rematched once more before she dropped the teen back at his house at 4AM.
Danny slammed face-first into his bed and didn’t wake until noon – his usual time. Waiting for him in at the kitchen was Dirk with a breakfast burrito and a side of questions. The inquisition was relentless. A mixture of slamming the table with excitement, animal noises, and curses that rhyme with LUK. The teen only smiled and shook his head, feeling chivalrous in his inaction. Lexi was precious to him, as was their secret. He’d keep it alive as if their lives depended on it. As far as he was concerned, it did.
Even though Danny was just a teenager, new to the world, experiences, and all the emotions that come with it, he knew what he felt wasn’t mere infatuation. The secret was the budding love between he and Lexi. They not only kept the secret but had fun doing so. Ms. Kantos would use double-entendres in class only Danny would pick up on and every so often give him detention just to say she did.
Their lives were filled with specific times and places to meet up and rematch. After school, Danny would visit her at the arcade and share smiles and winks when no one else was looking. For years they kept the secret alive. Through Danny’s senior year, prom, and college. Their love flourished in secrecy, and then came a time where they need not keep it any longer.
Danny had dropped to a knee and asked Ms. Kantos to marry him. After a teary-eyed ‘yes,’ the couple realized their secret could no longer exist. It had been a part of them for so many years, it was almost like raising a child and letting them go to college. It was time to let go. Danny was nervous telling the families, Lexi was bursting to let the world know. They had to be honest about the genesis of their relationship, but since Danny was now of age – and the fact they were engaged – either family accepted the relationship. When Dirk was told of the relationship, he responded with an, “I KNEW IT!”
After the wedding, they moved into an apartment together. Mrs. Wire still taught at Oakville High and Danny took over the Dragon Tail Arcade for her father. He’d graduated with a business degree and struggled to adapt as the years passed and technology improved.
He eventually remedied and turned the arcade into a coffee shop/comic book store/video game lounge for high schoolers and others who needed a place to “let their nerd hang out.” Lexi came up with the new tagline.
Years passed, and Malcom Sub-zero Wire was born. Their effort, their bond, their love they’d hidden for so long, the actions they took together had manifested into a life. It was as if their secret had transformed and returned to them as their child.
Eventually, the budding family moved into a small house. In the garage was a makeshift arcade for Malcom – and his parents – to play in. At the tender age of 5 is when Mr. and Mrs. Wire introduced him to Mortal Kombat on the same machine LUK defeated Danny years and years ago.
“Daddy, who should I pick?” Malcom asked.
“That guy!” he said.
The 5-year-old – standing on a bucket to reach the buttons – selected Sub-zero.
“Daddy, who’s player 2?” Malcom asked pointing to the opposite end of the screen.
“Oh, player 2 is coming, sweety,” Lexi said giving Danny a smile with a hand over her belly. She pulled her husband in for a kiss, then shoved him away. “But for now, you’re going up against mama-bear.”
They family gamed, grew, and laughed. Playing the game became a family tradition on holidays. Malcom and Sonya’s families would come over and all would compete in a little tournament. Never again would Danny or Lexi win, that was for the grandchildren. But no matter how much the family grew, no matter how good the kids and grandkids got at the game, no matter how much changed in life, there was always a constant – an unbeaten score of 10,000,000 and the initials ‘LUK’ on top of the leaderboard.
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