by Anthea Sharp
“You’re not just trying to put it off so you can skate out on telling Dylan the truth, are you?”
“Shhh.” Maddy looked around the hallway, but no one was nearby. Most everyone was still finishing lunch. “Don’t say his name so loud.”
“Whatev.”
They were nearly to Amber's next class when Dylan walked out of the boy's bathroom. Puppy-dog-brown eyes rested on Maddy, stealing her breath. He pushed his black-rimmed glasses further up his nose as his gaze turned to Amber. He smiled, and Amber smiled back, her hand half raised, her fingers curling into the faintest resemblance of a wave. Dylan nodded and continued on to class.
Maddy stumbled, earning another glance from Dylan. Maddy felt her face warm. Great. Just great. She growled at the laces on her sneakers as she squatted to tie them up.
Amber looked at Maddy. “What’s with the sour face?” But another ping sounded, sending Amber’s attention back to her phone.
Maddy watched Dylan’s back as he receded down the hall, phone in hand. “Just savoring the irony.”
Amber barely looked up, grinning at her phone. “Cool. Hey, I’m gonna go get to class. See you later?”
“Sure.” Maddy bit her lip. Did she even want to know who Amber's mystery guy was?
8
The thought rose unbidden, again and again. Maddy kept trying to shake it off, trying to push away those ugly feelings. Amber wouldn't do that. Would she? The two had only been friends for a couple of months, but Maddy felt like she knew everything about her friend. At least, up until the last twenty minutes.
But Amber and Dylan, on the phone, at the same time. And that exchange in the hallway. Maddy kept replaying it, analyzing every moment, every smile, every tweak of a finger or brow. Had Amber blushed? Was Dylan nervous? Maddy stared at the back of Dylan all through AP Calc, torn between a desire to run her hands through his hair—it looked so soft, like a fur rug you might find in one of those cozy mountain resort cabins—or smack his head. Of course, neither of those things were going to happen.
When the bell rang, Maddy sprang from her seat, her mouth open and arm outstretched, ready to stop Dylan in his tracks. She needed to know. But then she stopped. He'd have no idea why she'd want to talk to him. What if she was wrong? What if he thought she was crazy? Or worse, what if he figured out who she was, and that she liked him?
Maddy straightened up. No. That was why she was gaming as a dude. She could pry the info out of him tonight. She just had to be smart about it.
9
Maddy didn't get her answers that night. Nor any time during the next week. She always chickened out or got flustered and gave up. It was easier to focus on killing and recruiting—it was even soothing, in some ways, allowing her to relax into her own skin. In those moments she was happy.
But every time Amber got a text she wouldn't share, or Dylan would send one of those dang emoticons Amber's way, Maddy would feel that spark of suspicion. It didn't help that Amber had let go of the whole you-need-to-tell-Dylan thing, spending most of her time buried in her phone. Maddy kept stomping that ugly green-eyed monster down, but it wouldn't relent.
And then there was Power.
The action was heating up, and the number of gamers slimming down. No, that wasn't quite it. Sure, there were plenty of gamers getting eliminated, but most were gathering into armies, some by choice, others by force. Though, if a player really wanted out, they didn't have to log in. There were a few of those, too, many sending out angry tweets to anyone who would listen.
Maddy and her team had gathered a few wayward players, but most of their army came from the aliens, both Uruk and Dazai. How it worked, Maddy hadn't quite figured out, but so far it had. She'd lost a player or two to forfeit because of the creep factor of working with the alien NPCs. Not that her teams—assembled from new recruits and dispatched to add more to their ranks—ever engaged the real players. Her strategy allowed them to glide under the radar. For now.
But for now, Maddy was more worried about how to bring up the whole Amber-might-be-dating-Dylan thing. Not directly, of course, and she struggled with being indirect.
Maddy dealt a finishing blow to one of the two remaining Arakkas—it seemed the alien spiders were everywhere these days—and her avatar sheathed his blade. "So, when do you think the developers are going to stop hiding their identity?" Maddy cringed at her latest attempt to bring up Amber's secret boyfriend. Okay, so that was so subtle even I didn't get it.
Dylan grunted. "I wouldn't expect anything if they're closing things down. Players would hound them to the ends of the earth. They'll probably try to do that anyway."
Amber dealt the other Arakka a final, sweeping blow, effectively ending the battle. "That would kill me, though, keeping that kind of a secret."
"Really," Maddy scoffed. Because you don't seem to have any problem keeping Text Guy a secret.
"Yes, really. Are you okay?" Amber fired back.
"Fine. I just— Wait. What's that?"
Power froze, a ship crashing just as if it was booting up. Maddy peered at the figure that materialized, wondering once more what hid beneath that hood.
"The time has come. Prepare yourselves and meet in the center of the city within five minutes or forfeit the game." The figure disappeared in a flash of light that seemed to set Maddy's mind abuzz.
"Holy crap. This is it." Maddy took a deep breath to try to calm her racing heart.
"And suddenly I feel so underdressed," Amber said. She and Dylan laughed.
Maddy ignored them. "We're going in. Meet at rendezvous. Hope you're ready. If not, fix that now." She fielded the information to her army at large. The team names began to light up green as leaders sent back the affirmative. Some text scrawled across the screen as a few messages came in, and Maddy fired answers back as they hustled to make ground zero in time.
Aliens trailed the trio, more falling into step—along with a few human players—until a mass of characters streamed in their wake. Maddy could hardly believe it. Red and blue eyes glowed in the gloomy setting, violet tattoos peppered throughout. New aliens had readily joined her ranks once she'd established she was recruiting both sides. Combat had turned into more of a game of gotta-catch-‘em-all. But they'd made it so far, surviving, building, slowly creating an empire.
As they rounded a corner, the beginnings of two other armies came into view, their troops amassing in the center of the city.
"We'll never win," Maddy breathed as she stared at the armies before her. And it hit her—all were human, and all were marked with red or purple. The Maq class had been wiped out. All except her, it seemed.
"It's okay. We've got this," came Amber's reassuring voice.
They waited in silence. Maddy watched the timer that had appeared on the screen, ticking down the last few moments. She glanced around the city center again, weighing the possibilities. Chances were the other two groups would be competing against each other, not viewing her team as a threat. Not that she blamed them. How the other two teams had gained so many players, she could only imagine, but the sizes were impressive. Maddy hoped flying under the radar would pay out in the end. But it had gotten them this far. Too late to change tactics now.
The timer hit zero, and the mysterious voice rang out. "Last human—or team—standing wins. Good luck. May the Power be yours."
Maddy squeezed her digiTAB a little tighter, watching as the two human teams, as predicted, turned on each other. Good. Maddy began dispatching her troops, ordering them to skim around the edges and knock out players. No need to get in the middle of the action, but if she could thin the ranks, that might make things a little easier.
The trio set off for the edges of the skirmish, looking for players that needed backup. As they mowed down their first opponent, the red "Game Over" icon flashing above the player’s head, Maddy wished there was some way to recruit him. That option had disappeared.
They made their way to the next mark, and a chime went off somewhere in the real world. Maddy was to
o engrossed in the game to pay it any attention. It sounded again, and this time Maddy recognized the notification tone as being her phone. She picked it up and read the message.
You should tell him now.
Maddy stared at Amber's text, then shook her head.
No. Bad timing. Don't want to lose.
And what if he's wiped out of the game?
Right. When you gonna tell me about mystery guy?
Who?
Maddy turned her phone off and tossed it on the couch. This was the last conversation she wanted to have right now.
"H-ref, did you turn your phone off?" Amber asked moments later.
Maddy gritted her teeth. "Kinda busy here."
"What's going on?" Dylan asked, his character taking out another player.
"Let's just focus on winning." The all-out brawl had turned into a chaos of players. Maddy stepped out of the fighting and watched the data screen as her team started losing numbers. She bit her lip, trying to think of something—anything—to keep them all in the game.
"Mads, we're getting slaughtered here," Amber said.
One of the teams was pulling out in the lead, and they had refocused their resources to begin combatting Maddy's team. She felt the sweat start to prickle her skin as she maneuvered around the fighting, trying to strategize with the troops for maximum impact.
"'Mads.' Why does that sound familiar?" Dylan said, breaking Maddy's concentration.
It took an extra moment, though, to realize what Dylan had said. "Amber!" she screeched, making the voice mod work extra hard.
"Sorry, it just slipped out," Amber said.
"Oh, like you didn't do that on purpose." Maddy's attention was drawn back to the screen. Her army was dwindling fast. Too fast. They'd be out of the game in no time if she didn’t stop the bleed. Problem was, she had no idea how.
"Hey, guys?" Dylan's usually calm voice sounded panicked and unsure.
Maddy ignored him, aiming all her anger at Amber as she re-engaged in the action. "You don't think I know how this is going to end?"
"Game Over" flashed above the heads of numerous avatars, each one flickering before they vanished—presumably for good.
"What are you talking about?" Amber asked, starting to sound annoyed.
"I know who you like! Okay? I get it. You two deserve each other. Really."
"You figured it out?"
"How could I not? I saw the way you looked at each other, I saw you texting in the halls."
"How was I supposed to know?"
The distress in Amber's voice nearly tore Maddy apart, but she couldn't let go. Not yet.
"Dude, chill," Dylan said. "She's not your property."
Maddy let out a cold chuckle. "You have no idea." Amber was taking a hit from another team, her stats falling dangerously low. Maddy glanced at them, weighing her options. Ah, screw it. If her team was going down, then she was going with them. She had her avatar discard the shield and equipped him with a sword, his other hand already holding a gun, and ran into the fight.
"No idea about what?" Dylan asked, bringing alien reinforcements with him.
Too bad they were still outmatched.
Maddy began healing and protecting, but just as she was starting to get comfortable, one of their opponents hit a frenzy. He was big, too, and leveled and armed to the hilt. The whole team took a blow, health levels dropping down to critical. One more good hit, maybe two, and it'd be game over.
"He doesn't know because you didn't tell him," Amber said, her voice pleading. “You can’t have it all.”
Maddy readied for another desperate round of healing when a new option popped up in her attack commands: Sacrifice. The word blinked blue, and when she hovered over it, the short explanation read: "Forfeit your game to win an advantage for your team." Maddy stared at the words, feeling numb. Could she really give up her only chance to win for her friends? And then it struck her: she was being selfish. If Dylan and Amber liked each other . . .
"You're right. It's time," Maddy said, then switched the voice mod off. "My name isn't Dylan. It's Maddy." Maddy selected Sacrifice, her finger hovering over the command, the timer over the option counting down. At least this way, maybe Amber and Dylan would have a chance—with the game and with each other.
"Wait. You're a girl?" Dylan sounded concerned, maybe appalled. Any sliver of hope Maddy still carried disappeared.
"I hope you two are happy." Maddy hit the button, locking in sacrifice.
Are you sure?
"What? Maddy!" Amber yelled.
"What's going on?" Dylan asked.
Maddy selected Yes. The hologram whited out, and when the scene returned, her avatar began to slump. "Game Over" flashed above h-ref's head. Would her sacrifice make any difference? Their opponent was incredibly powerful. She wasn't sure even a magical sacrifice could bring her comparably modest team a win.
The Power logo filled the hologram field, and then Maddy was logged out. It was over. She wanted to crawl under a rock and stay there forever.
Too bad there was school tomorrow.
10
Maddy woke the next morning, hating herself. She was sure she could've handled things differently. Hopefully Amber and Dylan had won, and it would smooth things over. Maddy wondered how the game was doing, or if it was even operable today. There was one sure way to find out, but Maddy wasn't ready to talk to Amber yet.
As she shuffled out of her bedroom, she thought about her cell phone, still sitting on the couch, turned off. She hadn't been brave enough to look at it last night and still didn’t want to see it this morning. Oh well. It was too early for a verbal thrashing, or whatever, so she went about her morning routine, wishing there was a real-life way to become invisible.
But as she pulled herself together, grabbing some eggs and toast from her mom before heading out the door, it occurred to Maddy that she had nothing to lose. Either Amber was a friend and they'd get through this, or she wasn't, and they'd fall apart. Sure, it'd hurt, but she'd kept company with her games and books before. And Dylan hadn't been hers to begin with. That stung worse in some ways, but at least she hadn't really lost him. She'd find Amber when she got to school, and she'd figure out a way to patch things up, if that was possible. Maddy threw back her shoulders and straightened her spine as she waited for the school bus, trying to encourage what little confidence she felt.
When she got to school the halls were abuzz. Everyone—gamer or not—was talking about Power. From what little she could pick up, the game had been shut down completely, but not before a recording of the final battle could be uploaded to the internet. Maddy grimaced. It killed her not finding out what happened, but all she could think about was her fight with Amber. Besides, that sacrifice thing probably looked like a quit. She wasn’t brave enough to see the comments that would follow.
Amber caught her in the cafeteria, practically pouncing on her. "Where have you been? What happened? I texted you all night, but you never responded."
Maddy smiled, relieved to see Amber hadn't stopped talking to her. "Sorry, I silenced my phone. Oh crap, and I left it at home." She took a deep breath. "Hey, Amber, I'm sorry about bailing on you guys last night."
"Bailing? You freaking won the game!" Amber squealed, jumping up and down.
"What? How?"
"Well, whatever you did revived all our troops—mostly the aliens, but a few players who were waiting by their digiTABs when you sent out the beacon hopped back in, too. We slammed them."
"Holy crap! So Sacrifice worked. What was the prize?"
Amber shrugged. "Don't know. The alien guy said something about 'Power given to who Power's due,' or something like that, but we haven't seen anything. No one's been able to get into the game since. Even the hackers. It's like it never existed, aside from the videos."
Maddy grimaced. "How did it look? My end, I mean."
"You’ll have to watch it. It's epic. But Mads, you have to talk to Dylan."
"He probably hates my guts right now.
Besides, I thought you two would make things official by now."
Amber’s head bobbed back. "What? Dylan and I are sooo just friends."
"Really?" Maddy said, hope bubbling. "Then who's on the other end of those texts?"
Amber pulled Maddy to her side, then pointed. Kelvin. Freaking. Wilson. Only one of the hottest guys in school, a senior, and star football player.
Maddy's mouth hung open. "No."
Amber nodded, the smuggest of smiles on her face, then she held a finger to her lips. "It's not quite official yet. We're still talking."
Maddy waited for the information to catch up with her brain. How could she have missed it? She was so sure that was Dylan texting Amber. And now . . .
"So. Dylan's free," Amber prompted.
Maddy couldn't help but laugh. "Too bad it's Thursday. No AP classes."
"He'll be here. Before we logged off, I told him to meet us at lunch."
"Seriously?" Maddy squeaked.
"Seriously." Amber's grin was so wide, you could've fit a whole box of Lucky Charms in there.
11
The rest of the morning was torture. Gossip about Power and the anticipation of talking to Dylan worked against each other in a stomach churning flip-flop. When lunch came, Maddy didn't think she'd be able to eat. But she grabbed a tray anyway, hoping maybe Dylan wouldn't come—and hoping against hope that he would.
She was just coming out of the lunch line when she spotted the glint of his glasses across the cafeteria. Her mouth ran dry, and her feet felt rooted to the spot. Amber came up behind her, nudging her in the back. "Go! Get your nerd."
With a half-smile and a deep breath, Maddy walked over. Dylan caught her eye, then refocused on the floor. Maddy had to push herself to keep going. You've got nothing to lose, she reminded herself over and over. "Hi," she breathed when she was close enough.
