by Sylv Chiang
Then I realize he’s leading me to the stage. Now I’m freaking out even more.
I want to throw the match for Cali. I want to be her hero. But it’s one thing to lose in the corner with a small group watching. It’s another deal entirely to lose on the big screen in front of everyone here, and all the people watching at home. To a girl.
Ty and Flash will never let me live this down. I wonder if Hailey is watching. My stomach flip kicks itself and I almost lose my lunch.
I might not even have to lose on purpose. It would be just like me to win six matches in a row, and then totally choke in front of an audience.
Cali’s already on the stage, and she looks scared. It’s her first time playing on the live-stream.
I want to start this off right. “Sorry,” I say even though I’m not totally sure what I did. Then I stick my hand out. “Truce?”
She sighs and shakes my hand.
“Don’t be nervous,” I say. “Just pretend we’re playing at home, like always.”
“There’s no crowd in my room,” she says.
“Don’t worry. I’ve got you,” I say.
FIGHT!
I let her come on the attack and hit me with a flurry of punches before I back dash out of range. She comes at me with her Blizzard Super and I’m buried. I act like I didn’t see her cross up coming and let her get in a Yeti headbutt from behind. Of course, I can’t make it look too obvious, so whenever her lead gets big, I throw a Dragon Fire Super to even things out.
She wins the first two rounds to take game one.
“What are you doing?” she hisses.
“Um, losing to you again, I guess. You’re on fire.”
“I hate you, Jaden. I seriously can’t stand you right now.”
This isn’t going how we planned. Why’s she mad? Where’s the thanks? We’re supposed to be friends again, or whatever we are.
What do I do now?
The next round I’m all over the place. I throw my Dragon Fire Super, then back off a bit while she gets some good hits in.
“Don’t you dare,” she says while the crowd cheers.
A blizzard and I’m K.O.
She turns and glares at me. I’ve never seen her so pissed. “If you let up, even a little, I swear I will never speak to you again.”
Now I’m mad too. I’m trying to do something nice for her, helping her get into the Top 16, even after she didn’t talk to me all day, and she’s mad at me for it?
Whatever. Game on!
Chapter 19
Being mad doesn’t affect Cali’s game. If anything she plays better. The good thing is I know her so well. I can take advantage of her weaknesses. Sometimes I can guess what she’ll do before she even makes the move.
I jump up and breathe fire down her neck, but she blocks. Crap! That move used to get her every time. My advantage is also a disadvantage—she knows me just as well, and she saw that coming.
As soon as I can, I Super into Dragon Tail. It’s the one I use the least, and I’m right to guess that she won’t be expecting it. She blocks high, expecting Dragon Breath, but my tail swipes low and knocks her off her feet. Before she’s out of hit-stun I add my go-to combo and watch her health drop.
The crowd cheers as I finish her off with a simple fireball.
In round three we poke at each other for a bit until she moves in to throw her favorite combo, which starts with snowballs. She always ends in a yeti headbutt, so I back away. But she sends a Flash Freeze my way instead. The millisecond I’m out of hit-stun she breathes icy air at me and freezes me solid.
Is it my imagination or is the crowd cheering louder for her than for me?
I’ve got my powerful Dragon Fire Super mastered, and I’m using it. No mercy.
K.O.
Now we’re tied, one game each.
In game three my strategy is simple: play differently than I usually do so she can’t guess my next move.
It’s Cali’s strategy too, but she takes it one step further. She changes characters for game three. Now she’s playing Ylva, the dire wolf–cross she knows I struggle with.
It’s actually really hard to change up my game play. I automatically use my bread-and-butter combo whenever I don’t know what to do, and she automatically blocks it and sometimes even beats me to the punch.
She’s got Ylva moving so fast. She must have been practicing her a lot. Her Wolf Tail Super takes me to the edge, then my Dragon Tail Super sends her flying. We lock arms and she wins, throwing me over her shoulder.
Now I’m K.O.
By round two we’re both on pure attack, hardly bothering to block and defend. The crowd loves it. Every hit gets a noisy reaction and Supers make them scream, “Oh!”
I take round two when it times out. It’s all down to the last round.
“You can do this, Cali,” I hear Devesh in the crowd. “You beat him before!” I turn around and glare at him. His stupid plan got me here. If I had played full out from the start I would have beaten her by now.
Wouldn’t I?
Devesh is gesturing angrily at me. He points to Cali and me and then to the door, like he’s saying we could both make the next round. Hugh just makes a heart with his hands. I don’t want Cali to make Top 16 anymore. And I definitely don’t love her. I wish she’d never come to this tournament. I wish she never even started playing Cross Ups.
FIGHT!
I rip into her with jabs and kicks, but I’m so panicked I’m on autopilot. She’s fast to defend because she knows all my best moves. I, on the other hand, can’t figure out her strategy with Ylva. She’s constantly jumping over me, like she’s playing a kangaroo instead of a giant wolf. These cross ups are making me dizzy.
I shouldn’t be surprised. Everything about Cali is a cross up lately. She’s playing a different character in the game, but I feel like she’s playing a different person in real life too.
One last wolf tail swipe and I’m K.O.
I rip my controller out of the console and stomp off the stage.
Devesh and Hugh can’t believe it either.
“So, did you let her win or did she beat you?” Devesh asks.
“I don’t even know.” All I know is I would have totally won the match if I hadn’t given her the first game. Probably.
“I don’t get girls,” Hugh says.
“I don’t even want to get girls,” I say.
“The main thing is, you guys are both still in this, and you get to come back tomorrow and win this thing,” Hugh says.
“Do you think she has a chance?” Devesh asks.
“Shut up. Obviously Jaden’s going to win.”
I wish I was as confident as Hugh.
Devesh wasn’t kidding. His uncle’s place is huge. You could probably fit ten of Cali’s dad’s houses inside. All the furniture is white and looks tiny.
“It’s called minimalist,” Devesh explains.
Even the ceilings are super high. There must be way more air. So why do I feel like I can’t catch a breath?
Since it was only three o’clock when we finished at the tournament, Devesh invited us all to hang out here. I don’t think Cali likes the idea, but Melanie convinced her to come along because she can’t bring Roy back to Cali’s dad’s place.
The room the guys are sharing is empty except for three mattresses on the floor and the guys’ bags. It feels as big as Cali’s dad’s whole house.
Hugh kicks some socks under a mattress and we all plop onto the floor. I sit against one wall with Hugh and lean against my backpack with the controller in it. I’m keeping this thing close! Cali sits on the opposite side of the room. Even in this huge place, it feels like there’s not enough space between us.
Devesh sits in the middle of the room, takes out the laptop he brought, and pulls up the streams from today.
“Show us the match where Cali beat Jaden,” Melanie says. She must notice the tension in the room. My caring big sister has turned back into her dragon self.
Devesh acts like he can’t find it. Melanie grabs the computer and looks herself.
“So, what happened, Jaden? You choke?” She’s not interested enough to watch the actual match footage. But she’s scrolling the comments. “Who wrote this?” she asks before reading out loud.
TygerFlash: @JSTAR is the biggest loser ever and he told us Cali is his girlfriend IRL.
Hugh and I lock eyes. “Ty and Flash!”
“You idiot!” I say. “Why’d you have to tell them about the tournament?”
“And why are they saying I’m Jaden’s girlfriend?” Cali asks quietly.
Ha! I was right. I knew she wasn’t.
“They kept teasing him about this girl Hailey at camp. So I said he already has a girlfriend, you know, to shut them up,” Hugh rambles. “I mean, you are his friend and you’re a girl, and . . .”
“Ugh, so embarrassing.”
She thinks it’s embarrassing to be my girlfriend? Okay, I know where I stand now. That’s probably the same reaction Hailey would have.
“What the . . . ” Melanie is scrolling through the comments. “Look at this.” She points to a comment for Roy to read.
“I’m not reading that,” he says.
Chapter 20
I don’t want them reading any more stupid comments out to Cali. “Ty and Flash are idiots. Just ignore whatever they wrote.”
“This isn’t from your school friends. It’s your teammate.” Melanie reads:
ShoMe: New outfit & imperio will rule stream
ShoMe: Shorter + Tighter = Better
I look at Cali. She’s wearing jeans and a black T-shirt, like always. “What?”
“Duh, he wants her to dress sexy.” Melanie shakes her head in frustration.
I remember Sage’s comments about SaltyPeppa’s legs. “He just says stuff like that. He likes girls.”
Melanie loses it. “I can’t believe you’re defending him. You just met him today. Look what he said about your best friend.” She turns to Roy. “You should see the things he wrote to her online too.”
“He doesn’t even know that Cali is VoldemorT. He only knows her as Imperio from the tournament. Even I didn’t know she changed her tag until right before we played. My best friend didn’t tell me.”
“Hold on. You think it’s better if he thinks he’s disrespecting two different female players?”
I wish Josh was here. My brother is on tons of sports teams. He’d tell them guys talk like that in the locker room too.
“It’s just guy talk. Anyways, gamers are always saying rude stuff to throw their opponents off their game by getting them mad or frustrated. Last week one guy called me ‘vomit’s ugly brother,’ and today ORevoir called me tabarnak, which I know means something pretty bad. I can only imagine the stuff he said to Chung-Key during their match.”
“There’s a difference between an insult and telling someone to wear less clothes.”
“You’re making a big deal out of nothing. That’s just how guys talk. C’mon, Roy, tell her.”
“Maybe that’s the way gamers talk, but it’s not cool, J.”
Devesh jumps to my rescue. “That is how gamers talk. I get that stuff all the time in the comments when I stream a match with a girl player. They call girls eye candy, tell them to go back to the kitchen—”
“That’s not trash talk,” Roy says. “That’s girl-bashing.”
“Same thing,” I say. Isn’t it?
Roy is serious. “Think about it. Do they tell girls they ‘play like a boy’? Do they tell you how to dress?”
“So? They say other things. They tell me I suck or I’m a try-hard,” I say.
“Yeah, but you can practice and get better and change your playing style,” he says. “Cali can’t change that she’s a girl.”
“The guy’s a jerk.” Melanie bangs the laptop closed.
“That’s my teammate you’re talking about.”
“Well, that’s Cali he’s talking about,” Melanie says. “Would you say those things to her?”
Cali sighs and closes her eyes.
Hugh says, “They’re not actually talking to each other.”
“What’d you do now, Jaden?” Melanie says.
Even Melanie can’t be angry at me for trying to be a hero. “Get this. She’s mad because I let her win so she could make Top 16. I thought she’d be happy . . .”
My words trail off when Roy looks up. His eyes are like laser beams that fix right onto mine.
“You what?” Melanie yells.
Roy shakes his head behind her back.
“I was trying to be nice . . .” Now Roy’s making huge Xs with his arms too.
“Oh my god. Jaden, you are so clueless. Why is Cali even friends with you?”
I look at Roy. “What did I do wrong?”
He sighs. “So many things, Jaden. So many things.”
I give up. But Hugh doesn’t. He jumps in to defend me. “Look, Cali, we know you’re mad at Jaden. We thought it would help if he let you make Top 16.”
“Let me?” Cali spits out the words.
“Not let you,” I stammer. “Help you.”
Roy cringes.
Cali stands up. “So what, I’m supposed to thank you now?”
I’m guessing the answer is no, but I can’t figure out why.
“Thanks for the pity win.” She walks out of the room.
Everyone waves me to follow her. But what am I supposed to say?
“Go!” Melanie says and pushes me out the bedroom door.
The house is so big and open that I can see Cali sitting on the narrow white living-room sofa from the upstairs hall railing. Everything is so white that it looks like she’s sitting in Saki’s snow cave. I head down the spiral staircase and sit next to her.
“Leave me alone.”
This real-life stuff is way harder than any battle in Cross Ups. I wish there was some game feature I could use to get past this. Maybe Kaigo could give Saki roses or something. Instead, all I can think of to say is “I’m sorry.” Is that lame?
Cali stares at me. “How would you feel if you found out that the only reason you beat MrWinDoh today was because he let you win?”
Did he? Sometimes adults let kids win so they’ll feel good about themselves. “That would suck,” I say honestly.
“I know you were trying to be nice. But I want to win because I’m a good player, not because someone feels sorry for me.”
“I just wanted you to stop being mad at me.” She doesn’t say anything. “It didn’t work, and I don’t know what to do next.”
“Did you let me win last week too?”
“No,” I say quickly. “I wish.”
“You say the only way to earn respect as a gamer is in the game. But I beat you and you still don’t respect me.”
“I respect you.”
“Then stop acting like I’m different from the guys.”
“Okay,” I say, even though I’m not sure what she means. She’s not a guy.
The sound of clapping comes from upstairs. We look up. Everyone is standing at the railing, watching us. But they’re not clapping. It’s Melanie’s phone. Her ringtone is a golf clap.
She grabs the phone out of her pocket and sighs. “Surprise. It’s Mom again.” She heads into the boys’ room followed by Roy.
“So, are you Jaden’s girlfriend again?” Hugh asks.
“What? Why do people keep saying that? Do you think I’m your girlfriend?”
“Not exactly. It’s just, people keep saying you are . . .”
“Ugh! That’s exactly what I’m talking about. Did anyone ask me? I’m not your girlfriend, and if you
don’t start treating me normal, like you treat Hugh and Devesh, I won’t be your friend anymore either.” She looks up at the railing. “That goes for you guys too. Stop following me around like I’m some princess who needs to be protected.”
Hugh and Devesh head back to the guys’ room mumbling apologies.
Cali leans back on the sofa. “Ugh! I wish it could be like old times when no one cared that you’re a boy and I’m a girl.”
That’s what I said. But now that everyone made me think of Cali as a girl, and even a girlfriend, she seems different. I’m not sure if things can go back to the way they were.
Chapter 21
Cali’s hanging with Roy and Melanie in the living room, listening to music. She probably doesn’t want to be around me.
Me, Devesh, and Hugh chill in the guys’ room.
“What do you think happened to your suitcase?” Hugh says.
“No idea. Lost and Found doesn’t open till Monday.”
“You left a suitcase with an electronic device inside on a national train car. I bet the bomb squad came and blew it up,” Devesh says.
“They wouldn’t blow it up,” Hugh counters. “They’d use bomb-sniffing dogs to check it first.”
“Even worse, I bet the dogs peed on your controller.”
We watch playback from the tournament to see how the other Top 16 competitors play. Besides my teammates and Cali there’s ORevoir, three more guys from his O team, and eight other top players. I don’t feel confident against any of them, not even Cali.
When we get to my match against Cali I say, “We don’t need to watch this one.”
“We should totally watch,” Devesh says. “When she played Ylva she owned you. You need to study that.”
He’s right. I need to be prepared in case I play her again. I click PLAY.
Even though Cali caught on fast that I was throwing the match, I must have been doing an okay acting job because the commentators don’t mention anything.
