An Excerpt from a Writing Project

From The Magic Video Game 2: Time for Tennis

It was about 10:30 in the morning, and Levi was planning to go to Chicago with Mackenzie and her dad. They had a list of things that they had wanted to do, and Levi was very excited about this opportunity to be with them when walking around Chicago.

Mackenzie’s three brothers, Brent, Jesse, and Andrew, and their mom went to downtown Valparaiso to visit the kids’ cousins. Mackenzie and their dad already had plans to explore downtown Chicago, and they were going to have a great day.

It was now about 10:50 in the morning, ten minutes before they were leaving for Chicago, and Levi had told Mackenzie that he would be over at her house at around this time. However, when Levi did not show up, Mackenzie tried calling him several times. After at least six failed tries, the phone calls always went straight to Levi’s voicemail.

“Snap,” she said after she hung up the phone.
“Is he not answering?” her dad questioned.
“No. And it’s 11:02!”
“He could just be running late.”
“He said he would come.”
“Just relax, sweetie.”
“Levi is usually on time when it comes to things like these, and I know we need to leave soon.”
“Isn’t he a late sleeper?”

Mackenzie didn’t say anything for a few moments. She could not remember whether Levi loved sleeping in late or not. Today, it seems that a lot of teenagers love to sleep in late. And Levi was probably one of them. It was evident that Levi’s love for sleeping in had yet to cross her mind.

“Oh my God. That’s probably what he’s doing.”

She started crying. Mackenzie was really looking forward to having her boyfriend come with them to Chicago. She would not have minded so much the fact that she and her dad were going on a day trip there, but she did not like the fact that Levi just didn’t call her. Mackenzie hung her head down and cried even harder. Her dad walked over to her and tried to make things a bit easier.

Meanwhile, Levi was still sleeping. He was in the clothes he wore yesterday. He forgot to put his ankle brace on; he was so tired from a busy and fun day.

It was now 11:06, and his mom came upstairs to check on him. She gently shook his arm so that she could at least try to get him to wake up. After about five minutes, the boy woke up very slowly. When he finally sat up on his bed, he could barely open his eyes. He brought his knees up to his face, and his head was on them. His arms were wrapped around his knees. Levi was trying to wake himself up by taking in a few deep breaths and exhaling slowly.

“Good morning, sleepyhead,” she said.
“Hello,” Levi quietly answered once he was more awake.
“Did you remember that you were going to Chicago with Mackenzie today?”
“….Yeah?”
“They already left.”
“What?!”
“They were going to leave around 11.”
“What time is it now?”
“11:13.”
“Oh no!”

Levi quickly got out of bed and ran toward the kitchen. His heart was pounding so hard to the point that it could actually burst inside him. His stomach hurt to the point that there may, in fact, have been butterflies flying around in there. And his palms were sweaty from just being woken up, as well as being very upset about the whole situation. His phone was on the counter, next to some breakfast cereal, and he quickly dialed his girlfriend’s number in a matter of heartbeats.

After a few rings….

“Hey, you finally decided to call,” Mackenzie answered.
“Yeah. I’m really sorry,” Levi said.
“What were you doing all this time?”
“I literally just woke up.”
“Ah.”
“I saw that you called six times.”
“I sure did.”
“I’m a heavy sleeper.”
“I’ve noticed.”
“I’m sorry about today. I really didn’t mean to pull what I did,” Levi apologized.
“It’s fine. We’ll just have to plan something else, I guess,” Mackenzie replied.
“I know. I really have to make this up to you.”
“Okay. What do you want to do?”
“Question is….what do you want to do?”
“Well, I’m partial to just playing video games.”
“I’m cool with that.”
“What day?”
“Tomorrow?”
“That should work.”
“Alright. See you then.”
“Bye!”

Levi sat at the kitchen table feeling very bad about what he had done. Yet, he also thought it was pretty hilarious. Evelyn Maeve found her older brother and skipped in his general direction. She had her butterfly wings attached to her, and she was wearing a halo made out of garland from a previous Christmas pageant that her friend wanted her to be a part of, since she was also in it.

Apparently, Evelyn Maeve’s intention was to be a fairy today.

“Herro,” she said gleefully.
“Herro,” Levi answered back.
“Are you supposed to be somewhere?”
“I was supposed to be in Chicago with my girlfriend.”
“Oh?”
“And I overslept, so I’m here.”
“Yay!”
“I know.”
“Cartoons?”
“Okay!”

Levi went back up into his bedroom to put on some everyday clothes, and then he came back down to eat some leftover mostaccioli from the night before. He and Evelyn Maeve watched some cartoons for an hour. Soon after the next show was coming on, their mom found them on the couch. She was finished with some work that she had to do for her job. Victoria and Olivia were at their half-sister’s house; they visited Louise, who was not feeling very well today.

“What doing, peeps?” she asked.
“Watching TV,” Levi answered.
“Watching TV,” Evelyn Maeve repeated softly.
“Want to do Mexican food for lunch?” their mom asked.

Levi’s and Evelyn Maeve’s mouths dropped. They ran to the closet by the door and hurriedly put on their shoes. Then, the three went to the nearest Mexican restaurant to eat….Mexican food.

Not Chinese food.

An hour and a half later, once they came home from their outing, Levi received a phone call from Jack. He missed the call at first because he basically did not hear his phone go off. Once he found out that Jack had tried to call him, he decided the best thing to do would be to call his best friend back.

After dialing Jack’s number and a few rings….

“Herro, Sir Levi,” Jack answered his phone.
“Hey. What’s up?” Levi answered.
“Hey. I tried calling’ you, but you no get my call.”
“Very funny, sir.”
“Well….how was your….date?”
“You want to know the truth, don’t you?”
“Yes. Yes, I do.”
“I overslept.”
“What?! What is that supposed to mean?” Jack questioned his best friend.
“I overslept. We were going to Chicago at 11, but I woke up at 11. So, we’re playing video games instead,” Levi replied.
“You should make a cake. Simple as that.”
“I never thought about that.”
“Well. Now, I want you to meet two new amazing people who may join our posse.”
“Great. Who are they?”
“Benny Wickford and Nathaniel Linden. I made up some sweet names for them!”
“Cool!”
“Benny is Benny Bear. Nathaniel is Lindy,” Jack explained.
“I like Lindy!” Levi exclaimed.
“I know! Well, come over to the tree house in fifteen minutes….if you can.”
“It’s on the ground.”
“Right. It is a house made out of a tree.”
“Well, bye!”
“Bye!”

Levi got ready to go over to Jack’s house. He was actually going to meet two new friends today, who were most likely tennis nerds, just like the whole posse. He ran upstairs to get his sandals, since he has always put them somewhere in his bedroom. Levi was fine when he put his flip-flops on. But, when he ran downstairs, he tripped on one of the stairs and fell the rest of the way down.

“WEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!” Levi shouted at the top of his lungs.

It was obvious that Levi somehow found a little bit of fun in falling down the stairs. His mom, however, heard the loud noise from the kitchen, where she was sitting. She was far from entertained. As a matter of fact, her post-traumatic stress disorder was definitely kicking in.

“LEVI! ARE YOU OKAY?!” she shouted.
“Yes, I’m fine. I just fell down the stairs.”
“You didn’t hurt yourself, did you?”
“No. It was actually quite fun. Jack wanted me to go over to his house made out of a tree.”

​Mrs. Cranston then drove her son to Jack’s house, which is literally five minutes away from their house. Only he doesn’t live in downtown Valparaiso. He lives on Shamrock Lane, which is on the west side. Once Levi and his mom exchanged their casual “I love you’s,” Levi went up to the house to meet up with his best friend, and then Mrs. Cranston and Evelyn Maeve were going grocery shopping. Victoria and Olivia were planning to come home in thirty minutes, as was their dad.