An Excerpt from a Writing Project

From The Magic Video Game 3: Mystery of the Island

It was the next day, and Levi was watching one of his favorite game shows in the evening with Victoria and Olivia. Evelyn Maeve went to a birthday party and probably wouldn’t be back until around nine o’clock at night. Their parents ordered pizza for the family, and their dad drove over to get their order. Their mom drove Evelyn Maeve to the birthday party.

Victoria was spending an evening at the Cranston’s house on Elmhurst Avenue in downtown Valparaiso. Since she lives in an apartment a few blocks away, she decided to just walk over here. Louise Baranovsky, the oldest half-sister, also lives around here, but she and her family were leaving for Rhode Island tomorrow to visit family. However, since she and her husband, Brian Soriano, have small boys at home, of course they would have to focus on more packing and last minute tasks. Elizabeth Baranovsky, the younger half-sibling, was in Chicago tonight with her husband, Paul Weiner.

The three kids were okay with being together tonight. They didn’t have to do anything that required leaving the house, so that was all good. Mindless of anything else going on at the moment, Victoria, Olivia, and Levi sat around in the living room with a glass of white wine in their hand and chips and salsa on the coffee table while watching TV. They had nothing better to do besides watch game shows and then possibly some stupid comedy shows.

“I wonder if Janice will win,” Olivia said all of a sudden.
“I would assume so. She’s got the most amount of money,” Levi replied. “And they’re right at the third toss-up.”
“No. I mean the final round. We all know she’ll make it that far.”
“I like Janice, so I want her to win.”
“Why do you like Janice so much?” Victoria asked her brother.
“She clearly knows what she’s doing,” Levi remarked.
“I was hoping Tim would win.”
“What do you have about Tim?”
“He’s cute.”
“Bogus.”

Levi’s response. Victoria has consistently been annoying Levi with the guys that she likes, even though she has never had serious relationships with many of them. Victoria was in one serious relationship in college, and they eventually broke up because he is from San Diego, and she is from Valparaiso. They were sure that the long distance would put a damper on their relationship. Their relationship lasted a year and a half before they realized the truth about distance. Victoria has had on-and-off relationships with other guys that wouldn’t last more than six months, and she has been single for about a year. And so have her other roommates, which would make things slightly easier for all of them.

Olivia was in a relationship with her friend, Cameron Sedley, for five years before they both realized that they wanted nothing more than just a friendship, and also since college was coming up. Olivia and Cameron went to the same college, but they wanted to expand their horizon on friendships and potential relationships. This happened in July 2009, and Olivia and Cameron are still very close friends to this day.

Levi, of course, is a rarity in today’s dating world. He asked Mackenzie Burbanks to be his girlfriend four days after he had his tonsils taken out, which was October 19th, 2005. They have been dating since that day, and their relationship has always been strong.

“Hey, Victoria, you were telling me about David Wolff, right?” Olivia asked her older sister of two years.
“Oh yeah, David,” Victoria responded with an awkward smile.
“Do you still like him?”
“Yesh.”
“I’ve seen him before. He’s cute,” Olivia remarked.
“He’s mine. Get your own man!” Victoria exclaimed. Levi rolled his eyes.
“Well, if you’re going to be so possessive!”
“I like him!”
“So, when are you going to talk to him?”
“Tuesday.”
“Seriously?!”
“I don’t know.”

Levi didn’t care about David Wolff, some hot employee at some restaurant in Valpo. He knows of him, but he has never talked to him. The only reason why he knows of him is the fact that David and Victoria were in the same graduating class in high school. They graduated in 2007, so a little while ago.

Try seven years ago around this time.

David and Victoria were actually friends in high school, and they have somehow stayed in contact ever since. However, since Victoria has started liking him, she has found it harder and harder to talk to him via social media and texting. She could have a great face-to-face conversation with him, but she would have absolutely no idea what to say in a text message.

Olivia likes David as well, but he is not Cameron. As a matter of fact, Olivia was planning to go bowling with him in a couple weeks, after he came back from Italy, a vacation that his family surprised him with for his college graduation. And, of course, Levi and Mackenzie would be invited to the bowling event.

“How do you know David?” Levi blurted out specifically to Olivia.
“Victoria and I have gone to the fast food joint, and we spoke with him,” Olivia replied.
“Jayneley still works there, right?”
“Yep. She’s going into her fifth year as a manager, even though she transferred from another store.”
“Oh wow. Is she planning to do anything else soon?” Levi asked.
“Either move higher up or go into another industry,” Olivia replied.
“She seems to like what she does.”
“She doesn’t really mind it. However, she is starting to look at other jobs.”
“Okay. How many interviews do you have next week?”
“Five at least.”

Olivia was hoping to get a good full-time job within a month of graduation from college. She was hoping to go into marketing after graduation, so that was what her focus was on. Levi was hoping to find some excitement in his apprenticeship with their dad. Even though she is working full-time, Victoria was hoping to start a relationship with David Wolff. And Levi could not have cared less about that. And also Olivia, to a degree.

David has long brown hair to his chin, a skinny build, and is 6 foot 1. A couple inches taller than Levi, who has a similar build. His hair is shorter than David’s, though. That is Victoria’s idea of an attractive guy. Olivia likes that idea as well, but she is more into guys with dirty blonde hair, like Cameron.

And Evelyn Maeve was just having fun at her friend’s birthday party.

“Levi, what are your plans for tomorrow?” Victoria asked.
“I’m going over to my friend’s house tomorrow,” Levi replied without putting much though into what he said.
“Oh okay.”
“Why? What’s up?”
“My car’s in the shop. Still. And I was hoping that someone could take me to Elizabeth’s tomorrow,” Victoria remarked.
“Wow. That sucks about your car,” Levi said.
“Yeah. Stupid car accidents.”
“I’ll attest to that.”
“Oh yeah, because you were in the car with me.”
“Yep.”

A week ago, Victoria and Levi were headed back home from Crown Point after visiting their second oldest half-sister, Elizabeth. Half-way into their trip home, a car hit the trunk of Victoria’s car. Also known as a fender bender. Thank goodness everyone was okay, but it was obviously a scary experience for both Victoria and Levi, even though it was only a minor car accident. The two kids were well, but the car’s fender came off, and the car itself needed to be fixed.

Who knew how long it would take for Victoria to get her car back?

Victoria and Levi did not want to think about that right now. Levi was hoping Janice would win the game. Victoria was hoping Tim would win the game. Olivia was hoping for world peace. And for Janice to win the game. All three kids were hoping for the pizza to come soon. Surely their dad would be home soon, as well as their mom. It could be as short as five minutes, or it could be as long as thirty.

After eating pizza, Levi was hoping to go over to a nearby pizza shack and play some video games on some arcade machines. Hopefully, Olivia would go with him. Victoria would probably do some last-minute shopping with the parents to get some more stuff for her apartment.

Right now, the game was the only thing that mattered.

“Are you up for arcade games tonight?” Levi asked Olivia.
“I should be,” Olivia replied.
“Why would you not be?”
“What are we doing tonight?”
“Victoria has some shopping for her apartment,” Levi remarked plainly.
“Depends on what else we have going on,” Olivia said.
“I haven’t been there in a few weeks.”
“Neither have I.”
“So why couldn’t we go tonight?”
“I don’t see why not. JANICE IS GOING INTO THE FINAL ROUND!”

All of a sudden, Levi and Olivia jumped off the couch and high-fived each other. Then, they were just as loud as loud could be. Victoria just looked at them blankly and started feeling sorry for herself. Not that she really had any reason to. It was just that she was hoping that the hot auburn-haired guy would win.

Oh well.

Because of their “bet” that Janice would get to participate in the final round of the game, Olivia agreed to go with Levi to the pizza place on Highway 130 and play arcade games. Victoria still needed to go shopping for her apartment, and both parents were going with her, so that would leave Olivia and Levi at home with a lot to do.

The question was, what exactly would they do? They figured it out already.

Victoria received two separate texts from both parents. The kids’ dad tried ordering pizza, but the order was wrong. The kids’ mom ended up spending more time talking with one of her friends at Evelyn Maeve’s friend’s birthday party. Even though the pizza order might have gone horribly awry, the evening would still hopefully be good and eventful.

Or eventfully good, as one might say.

“I have good news, guys,” Victoria announced to her siblings in a somewhat sarcastic manner.
“What is that?” Olivia asked for Levi and herself.
“We will have to wait another few minutes for our pizza because they got our order wrong.”
“That’s wonderful. What was our order?”
“We ordered one cheese and one vegetable, both large. But they gave us one medium cheese and a large vegetable, and they were about to charge us for both large pizzas, even though they made us one medium,” Victoria explained.
“Oh wow,” Olivia answered.
“The chips and salsa are good, though.”
“That’s true.”
“But Dad should be home in no more than ten minutes, and same with Mom.”
‘That’s good to know.”

Janice lost the final round, but she was still a winner in Levi’s and Olivia’s eyes.