Two girls down, three to go. Sarah turned to Andi and waved her hand. "Tell me your truth, Andi."
The girl was alert immediately. "My truth?"
"Why don't you think you can be a cheerleader?" Sarah grinned.
"I don't think I can't be a cheerleader," Andi shot back. "I don't want to be a cheerleader. I know that doesn't make sense to you, but the whole world doesn't revolve around cheerleading. I know who I am and who I want to be. My dad's run the best damn coin-op arcade in town since the Pac-Man days, and one day I'm going to take that arcade over. That means that I need to keep my finger on the pulse of video games, and I need to know how to repair the hardware. I don't need to know how to shake my ass."
"Oh, Litwak's Arcade?" Sarah's eyes shone. "That's your dad? I love playing Dance Dance Revolution there. Have you ever played that one? It's like the best of both worlds: video games and shaking my ass."
Andi faltered. "Well, yeah. I suppose you do have to shake your ass for that one. And it's a really fun game."
"It is a fun game. Would you say it's your favorite?"
Andi thought for a moment, titles passing through her head. There were old classics like Pac-Man and Galaga. There were Capcom fighting games and immersive shooters. Standard ticket games like Skee Ball, and more experimental VR stuff. But the more she thought about everything that her arcade had to offer, the more she was drawn to Dance Dance Revolution. Did she use that machine more than the others? Yes, she figured she did. "I guess you could say it's the one I play the most."
"I bet you have the high score."
Andi blushed. Sure, she was good at DDR, but she wasn't that good. Then again, it was her favorite machine, wasn't it? She probably played DDR more than every other cabinet at the arcade, combined. No, she definitely played DDR more than every other game, combined. Her mom once had to chase her off to make sure that paying customers got a chance at it. It didn't discourage her, though, it just made her more strategic about when and how she used that machine. So of course she had the high score on it. "Yeah, but my parents don't like how much I hog the machine sometimes."
"Parents," Sarah blew a raspberry. "Sometimes they just don't understand what's important."
"I know, right?" The high score screen of the Dance Dance Revolution machine flashed in Andi's mind, her name taking up every single slot. But the bright lights of the arcade seemed duller than she remembered. Of course, what light is brighter than the sun? Out on a football field. Sure, Dance Dance Revolution was her favorite video game, but that was just because it was one of the few that Andi could even tolerate. "Like, the rest of the arcade is cool and all, but my folks need to understand. I don't want to run an arcade. I know that doesn't make sense to them, but the whole world doesn't revolve around video games. I know who I am and who I want to me. Our school had always had a top-notch cheerleading program, and one day I'm going to be head cheerleader. That means that DDR is okay sometimes, but I need to get out on the field with my teammates and shake my ass. I don't need to know how to fix an arcade cabinet."
Sarah grinned, then snapped her fingers, and Andi re-joined her fellow sleepover guests.
