His Wolf Pup - a Jasper Hale Story

74- Mario Kart

Life as a high school graduate was peaceful. We had all the time we could ever want to do anything.

With that time we ended up creating a very intense Mario Kart tournament that lasted multiple days.

The entire event was hosted at our house. We created rules that official games could only be played between the hours of 9 am and 9 pm. This was to ensure that everyone who needed sleep actually slept. It was the only rule Esme had enforced throughout the tournament. Of course, there was an argument made that no games should be played outside of those times, but Emmet somehow convinced everyone that he would die of boredom if he couldn't play Mario Kart throughout the night.

For days, we played an intense bracket-style competition with everyone we knew. There was a giant whiteboard that Noah had bought that was temporarily mounted onto the wall. That's where the bracket was laid out for all to see. When I say everyone was playing, I mean everyone was playing, pack and Cullens all together, but without Jacob and Bella.

Once everyone gathered in the living room for the first day of the competition, I stood in the front of the room to read the official rules. "Okay. We have decided that one full game will entail four races, and for each round, a different amount of people would get out. The exact rules for eliminations will be explained before each round. Within the game, you can sabotage however you want, but everyone who is not actively playing can not interfere, or they will be eliminated immediately. There is no actual prize, just bragging rights that you are the best at Mario Kart. Per Esme's requests, there are two additional rules. Games will only be played from 9 am to 9 pm, and there will be a lunch break and a dinner break where everyone has to stop playing, whether you eat or not."

"I will also have snacks that you can eat when you are not playing," Esme added happily. For her, this had become the opportunity of a lifetime to make random food for us to eat.

"Can we start now?" Emmet asked me, ready to go.

"Yes," I told him before looking over at the whiteboard. "First up is Sam, Rachel, Bree, and Esme."

Those four took the remotes, set up their karts, and started the race. Nothing exceptional happened, and Esme lost all four races, making her the first person out of the tournament. Of course, she didn't mind; she was happy to make snacks for everyone else.

Our first full round of races took all day. This was because in between every race, there was a break where everyone ate and talked. The rest of that day went smoothly.

Carlisle, Noah, Paul, and Seth played together, only for Paul to lose overall. Then Leah, Claire, Alice, and Rosalie played, and Claire understandably lost. Seeing as she was a lot younger than all of us, we figured she would get out first, but she was adamant that she wanted to play.

We had a big lunch break at this point before Emily, Quill, Emmet, and Edward played. Going into the last race, Emily and Quill were tied, but Emily ended up winning, so Quill was officially out of the tournament. He was happy because he could just hang out with Claire. The last race was between Embry, Kim, Jasper, and me. Kim lost all four races and was out as well.

After an entire day of competing, Esme, Paul, Claire, Quill, and Kim were out.

Then we all ate dinner together where Paul was furious that he was already out of the tournament. "Why was Esme the only Cullen that got out today? I feel like it's rigged."

"Paul, you literally helped me create the brackets yesterday," I told him.

"Doesn't mean it isn't rigged," he mumbled.

The next day we had our second round of competition with five more races.

Sam, Rachel, and Leah played in the first round, which was probably an oversight on all of our parts. Immediately Leah started arguing with Sam, which created a tense house for the rest of the morning. Rachel ended up losing anyway since she wasn't that good at the game.