HENRY'S POV

I walked to the arcade just like I had every summer evening for the past twelve weeks and a long time before that. The arcade was my safe space, where I could run away from my family for a few hours. We were the picture perfect family but behind closed doors and away from the cameras it was a whole different story. My dad was the Mayor and my mom was head of committee for the local elite club, short for she was just a glorified housewife who liked spending her day drinking wine and criticizing other people. My dad didn't care as long as he had his perfect family of four to keep his false image.

My twin brother Matthew was the golden boy, the favorite child, football captain and ladies man. It was weird to think I shared DNA with those three as I was nothing like them. I would have thought I was adopted were it not for the fact that I shared a face with the spawn of Satan called Matthew. He was the worst brother and they were terrible parents so I avoided them as much as I could. Matthew and I had similar first names, our parents thought it would be cute but I didn't. My first name was Matthias but I'd stopped using it when I was old enough to know better and started using my middle name. If I could leave and never go back, I definitely would but I was still underage so I stuck around until I was old enough to start my own path.

The arcade was my safe haven where I could just be me and that's why I went there as often as I could to get away from them before I imploded.

I was so lost in thought I didn't notice the person walking out of the arcade until we ran into each other. I apologized immediately and bent over to pick up the keys that had dropped upon our collision. We both had the same idea and ended up knocking heads.

"Ow!"She exclaimed rubbing her forehead as she straightened up.

I picked up her keys and stood up straight ready to apologize again. The words dried up on my lips when I saw the face I'd run into. She was gorgeous with big beautiful amber eyes, curly dark hair and glowing almond skin. I never really believed in love at first sight, let alone crush at first sight but the petite dark goddess before me had me rethinking all that.

Before I could collect my thoughts to apologize and introduce myself I noticed her face scrunch up into a scowl. She looked at me as if she knew me yet I had never seen her before. There was no way I would ever have forgotten a beauty like her.

"Really you again? You're like a fly I can't seem to swat off."She hissed still rubbing her forehead.

I crossed my fingers hoping it wouldn't swell. I didn't want to be the reason her beauty faded though I didn't think that was possible.

Her words registered past my endorphin fogged mind. Why was she so hostile towards me yet we had never met before?

"What?"I asked confused.

Had I offended gee in some way that I didn't know about in our few seconds of meeting. Maybe she was mad that I ran into her. If only she let me apologize I would clear everything up.

"Don't act stupid. Just leave me alone okay. I'm not interested and never will be."She retorted snatching her keys from my hands.

"I think you've got the wrong...."I defended but she continued walking away"......guy."I defended but she was already out of earshot.

Her reaction towards me had Matthew's stench written all over it. I should have known a beautiful girl like her would have already captured my brothers attention. He after all got all the ladies while I was dismissed as the nerdy younger brother. He was older than me by five minutes yet one would have thought he was way older. He always had to ruin everything for me, even the first crush I'd had in years was already under his claws. It seemed like my brother had wronged her so she would definitely not want anything to do with me. Matthew really did ruin everything. I just wished for once he'd stop and think about someone other than himself but that would be asking too much of the spoilt brat. She looked out of my league anyway so it would be better for me to forget her.

I gathered my thoughts deciding to forget the encounter with the mysterious girl. Walking further into the arcade I found Jack eating at the reception. Everyone called him Thor but I just called him Jack. Sure he had some resemblance to the fictional character but Jack possessed none of his powers which was a huge bummer for me.

"Hi Jack."I greeted him.

Jack was like the cool uncle who rebelled against the family to forge his own path. He was kind of a role model to me in that way. I wanted to be independent like him without caring what others thought of me. I refused to do that in Crescent though, my future was not going to be in my hometown. I had much bigger plans than that.

"Henry, just the man I was waiting for. You won't believe what happened today. Someone beat your Mortal Kombat high score."He exclaimed excitedly.

"Really?!"I asked shocked.

My high score was in every game in the arcade. No one had beat me in years, it was always me trying to beat my own high scores so I was shocked to hear someone was above me.

"Yep and it was a girl too. You probably ran into her on your way in."He explained.

My thoughts immediately went to the amber eyed goddess I'd ran into on my way in. She didn't look like someone who was into video games but looks can be deceiving. She just became more alluring to me with my new discovery of her interests. Looks like we had something in common.

I walked towards the Mortal Kombat machine and sure enough on top of my user name was another one. Melanin_queen had definitely given me a run for my money. Instead of trying to beat her high score which I easily could I just stood there for ten minutes staring at it.

I was rarely intrigued by girls but the mysterious girl had managed to capture my attention after only knowing her for less than five minutes. It's not that I didn't like girls, I did but I'd never met anyone genuine enough to be pursue something more with. All girls were either interested in me to get closer to my brother or just settled for me because they couldn't get my brother. Same applied for guys except they wanted his friendship and not mine. Because of Matthews overshadowing presence I adopted a recluse lifestyle so I didn't get hurt.

I had a girlfriend in my freshman year, she was an exchange student from Australia. We dated for that whole year but then she had to move back home. We tried dating long distance but after a while we drifted apart. She had been the only one to see past my brothers fake charms. She had been my first everything and I was glad I had the chance to experience that with her because at the rate my life was going, I'd die an old bachelor.

I didn't like people and they didn't like me for me so I was on my own a lot. I didn't mind it though, Jack was my friend and I was okay with that because at least he was genuine.

After getting over the fact that I was beaten by a girl I moved around the Arcade playing different games beating my own high scores. Jack was the one to kick me out as usual when it was closing time.

"See you tomorrow Jack."I said as I waved on my way out.

"Goodnight kid."He waved back.

I had a car but there was just something about walking at night under cover of darkness that appealed to me. It also made sure that I got home late so I could avoid running into any of my family members. I also preferred going to the arcade late in the evening because then it was either empty of had very few people. I had been alone for so long I was afraid I didn't know how to interact normally with people anymore. Maybe I would learn social interaction methods when I left Crescent immediately after my high school graduation. That was my plan and everything I did was working up towards that moment.

When I got home, I used the side door as always that went through the kitchen so I could avoid running into anyone. It wasn't my lucky day because I found my mom drinking her favorite wine in the kitchen. It was a shock seeing her there as she was never in the kitchen,we had maids for that. Her eyes turned to me as soon as she noticed she wasn't alone anymore.

"Where have you been?"She asked eyes narrowed at me.

No hello son, how are you? I've missed you. It was straight to being reprimanded.

"Arcade."I replied shortly.

"You spend too much time there. You should be studying."She scolded.

I wanted to point out that I had a perfect gpa score and that it was summer but I kept my mouth shut. I didn't want to pick a fight with her especially when her unfocused stare indicated that she was drunk. My mom was beautiful and made sure that she always looked at least five years younger than her real age. She was blonde with blue eyes just like mine, standing at 5'6. I got my dark hair from my dad.

My parents were they typical, cheerleader who fell in love with the football captain type of love. Their love just wasn't as cute and romantic as the books showed. They got married for the fame they could both inspire together. The more the years grew the more my mom drunk from being neglected by her husband and the less we saw of my dad as he was always stuck at the office. I used to wish for a normal family when I was younger but when I realized that all families were fucked up in their own way I stopped and started yearning for my freedom.

"Hey! Are you even listening to me?"My mom yelled snapping her fingers in my face.

"Sorry mom. What did you say?"I asked realizing that I had zoned out.

Her nose flared and I prepared myself to get ripped a new one. My mom had a short fuse and more often than not I was the one who lit it. I was the imperfect child, the one who ruined the perfect image because I refused to bend over backwards to keep our fake image perfect.

Instead of screaming my ear off like I had expected my mom breathed out slowly calming herself before getting off her stool.

"I don't have the energy for this tonight Matthias."She said.

I hated it when anyone called me that but my mom loved it and never failed to remind me that it was my name. If I could have my way I would change my whole name.

"We have lunch with the neighbors tomorrow at one pm. Be ready by then, we're going as a family and for the love of all that is Holy please wear something decent. No torn jeans or hoodies."She declared.

Before I could ask for the details she staggered out of the room leaving me all alone. I looked down at my clothes of choice. What was wrong with hoodies and ripped jeans. And lunch really? I didn't want to go but if I missed it my mom would make sure I never heard the last of it.

Feeling hungry I found a casserole in the fridge, warmed it up before picking up a spoon and eating directly from the trey. My mom would pull my ears if she saw me but she wasn't coming back to the kitchen so I enjoyed my few minutes of rebellion.

The front door opened and the unmistakable footsteps of my brother echoed through the quiet house. I hoped he walked right past the kitchen but it was not my lucky day. They stopped at the stairs leading to the second floor before turning around and heading towards my direction. There was nowhere to hide so I just continued eating.

"I knew I smelled a rat. Hello little brother. You've finally emerged from your burrow I see."Matthew commented sarcastically as soon as he saw me.

My brother was a bully and I had been at the receiving end of his taunting my whole life. I could easily speak up for myself but it just egged him on more so at some point I had just stopped and let him do what he wanted.

I just wished we had been fraternal twins, it would have been easier for me to ignore the fact that we were twins if we didn't share a face. We were the same height at 6'0,same blue eyes, dark hair and fair skin. The only difference was that Matthew was more heavily built than I was because of playing football and his love for the gym. I went to the gym too but only to keep fit and not to get bigger and bulkier like my brother did.

"Did mom tell you about that lunch tomorrow?"He asked.

I nodded without lifting my eyes off my food.

"I wouldn't have agreed to go but the neighbors daughter is so freaking hot, I definitely want her under my sheets. She's a sassy little thing though and keeps saying no but no one has ever been able to resist my charms. She'll come around sooner or later."He ranted out.

It disgusted me hearing my brother talking about girls like that but I was glad that at least one girl was able to put him in place. He was right though, Matthew always got what he wanted so she was as good as his. She wouldn't be able to say no for long.

For a second I thought that melanin_queen was the same neighbors daughter Matthew was speaking off. It would make sense why she would be rude to me if she thought I was Matthew. She was also sassy and a little rude when we ran into each other just like Matthew described. The probability of her being the same girl was high as our town was small so everyone knew everyone. The house next door had also been recently sold so it was probably her family that had moved there.

It irked me that Matthew had seen her first. That ruined all possible chances I thought I had. Of course he had to see her first. It had been like that all my life. Matthew taking what he wanted even if I wanted it too. He never thought of anyone but himself.

"Goodnight prick, see you tomorrow."He said.

I heard the fridge door open and close behind me. I thought he left but when my face got shoved into the casserole and his laughter roar through the kitchen I knew I was mistaken.

"Looks better on you than on the tray."He chuckled.

I turned to give him a piece of my mind but he was already gone. I cleaned my face with a paper towel before throwing the wasted food away and putting the tray in the dishwasher. It wasn't the first time my brother had messed with me and it would definitely not be the last. I always gave myself courage with the fact that he could not torture me forever. It was just one more year then I would be gone.

Leaving the kitchen I made my way to my room to take a shower cussing my whole my family in my head the whole time. Senior year could not fly by fast enough.