Playing Her Secret Crush

by Casey Griffin

  “It’s anyone’s game here at the annual Conquerors of Caroon tournament, brought to you by Maxware Studios and Charged energy drink. The drink of the all-nighter.”

  Tara walked with Penny to the bottom of the steps, where she wished her good luck. In response, Penny gave a thumbs-up that was coated in sugar from her bag of sour candies. Turning to leave, Tara gave everyone a wink. Or rather, Katie thought it was for everyone, but then Lexi’s cheeks twitched with a smile before they turned pink and she spun away.

  As they made their way across the stage, Lexi leaned in close to Katie. “I knew video games were popular,” she said, “but I had no idea this world even existed.”

  “I know,” Katie said, her eyes roaming over the crowd. “It’s so much bigger than I thought it would be. All these people are here to watch us.”

  “Us? Or him?” Lexi nodded to the station they were passing.

  Julian was out of his seat, jumping around in his Charged T-shirt, hat, and jacket. He egged the crowd on to chant “SonicWarrior! SonicWarrior!”

  Lexi snorted. “I’ll give him this. He sure knows how to get the crowd going.”

  “He also knows how to win,” Katie said. “Which is why Charged sponsors him.”

  Alex sneered at the spectacle. “Well, today he’s going to get a lesson in losing.”

  When Julian returned to his seat, he glanced over and noticed them watching him. “There you are, Masse!” By the smile on his face, he found Alex’s appearance comical, and Katie wanted to punch him for it. “Finally found the courage to show up, hey? I was worried you’d lost your nerve.”

  “I could beat you with one arm tied behind my back,” Alex threw back at him. “And I’ll prove it, too.” He waved his cast in the air.

  Trevor scoffed. “You’ve got a funny way of one-upping the competition,” he told Alex.

  Julian donned his headset. “I’ll see you in Caroon.”

  Katie nudged Alex to their station, in case he wanted to punch Julian, too. She took a seat in the high-end ergonomic gaming chair next to his, while Lexi sat on the other side of him.

  The chair cupped her body and formed to her curves. However, she suddenly felt uncomfortable, because she was eyeing the camera next to her computer. It was capturing every blink she took, every shade of pink she turned, and magnifying it for the entire stadium to see. And she couldn’t forget about all those people watching at home.

  Her body went rigid in her seat, her hands shaking over the keyboard. Sure, she’d wanted to stand out this year, but this wasn’t what she’d had in mind.

  “Are you okay?” Alex’s voice snapped her out of it.

  When she turned to him and saw the bruises and cuts on his concerned face, she forgot about the crowd, her insecurities, and everything else. Alex was all that mattered. The most important thing was that he was safe. That, and trying to convince him that there’d been nothing between her and his brother.

  Were you in love with Jason?

  Was that why Alex couldn’t think of her that way? Because he thought there’d been something between them? Katie knew how he felt about Jason’s memory. Would it even matter that she’d only ever had feelings for Alex? Would his brother’s ghost forever haunt any relationship she might have with him?

  The thought made her more anxious than the crowds had, and she couldn’t stand to wait another second. She had to know. “Alex, about Jason—”

  “Gamers,” the announcer interrupted, “there is one round and one round only to this tournament. The rules are simple. It’s a race to the finish. To win, be the first team to get to the flag. You only need one member from the team to succeed. But first, you need to survive the trials that lay before it, and each other. Good luck, have fun, and begin in three…two…one.”

  Chapter Eighteen

  Taking a deep breath, Alex dove into the game, feeling the comfort and familiarity of his character like a runner donning the shoes they’d been training in on race day. However, when he spun his camera to take stock of his surroundings, everything went blurry. The images swam before him. He blinked, only to realize it wasn’t the screen. It was him.

  Rubbing his eyes, he took a deep breath and shook it off. He had to focus. He could do this even with a concussion. Sports players did it all the time, and this was practically the e-sports equivalent of the playoffs. Today was too important to let something like a little head injury hold him back.

  He squinted at the screen, ignoring the twinges each time he blinked. When the game came into focus, his senses were overwhelmed by explosions, magic, and an assortment of weapons flying through the air. Pandemonium surrounded him. It was a bloodbath.

  Alex barely had time to draw a sword before Dark_Prince was shot through the windpipe with a spear. His hit points dropped, and his character fell to his knees.

  He searched his surroundings. They’d materialized on a stone dais—there was one for each team—but by now, everyone had already engaged in battle, crowding onto one dais or the next to paint it with the blood of their enemies.

  On the next platform over, Alex spotted his attacker: a white tiger that walked upright like a man and was as fluid as a cat. While chaos raged all around them, those feline eyes locked on Dark_Prince and narrowed with predatory focus. Even with player names hidden, Alex somehow knew it was SonicWarrior.

  The tiger drew back another spear. Alex was slow to react, maybe from the fading drugs, maybe from fatigue. His fingers fumbled for the dodge key, but he was too slow.

  The spear flew from SonicWarrior’s paw. Alex blinked for what felt like minutes. When he opened his eyes, his view was blocked by another character.

  The spear tinged uselessly off a metal shield and clattered to the ground. His protector turned. It was Lady_L.

  Fairy_gurl fluttered to his other side. She drew a poison arrow, took aim, and fired at SonicWarrior. It shot clear across the gap between their platforms, but he swiped it away with literal cat-like reflexes. Then the tiger-man leapt off the pedestal and disappeared with the rest of his team into swampy terrain that lay nearby.

  Alex grabbed the mouse. It felt strange beneath his cast. The hard material ended partway down his hand, leaving his fingers free, but they were swollen like sausages, their movements stiff and awkward.

  While he was right-hand dominant, he was lucky he hadn’t broken his left. If they were going to have a chance at winning, he needed quick fingers to fly over the action buttons on the keyboard.

  He clicked on the mouse a few times. Each tap sent a sharp jolt up his forearm, tensing the sore muscles beneath his cast. Just as he opened up his inventory to drink a healing potion, colorful sparkles rained down on his head. Fairy_gurl had cast a healing spell on him.

  Alex glanced at the two girls on either side of him. “Thanks, you two.”

  “No worries.” Lexi gave him a wink. “We’re a team, remember?”

  Katie only frowned. “Are you sure you’re okay to play?”

  Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed Penny and Trevor lean forward in their chairs to give him worried glances, too. Just how bad did he look?

  “I’ll be fine. Just getting used to the controls with my cast.” Alex flexed his fingers. Get it together, he told himself. He couldn’t let the team down.

  Katie pursed her lips but said nothing as she turned back to the action. Despite the high stakes going on at the moment, he wondered what she was thinking, how she was feeling about the news that Jason had cared for her. If only she knew how Alex really felt.

  He wanted to tell her so badly, but he bit back the words. Whatever he was going to say, he needed time to say it. Alone. Not in front of a stadium full of people. And he wouldn’t do it with Lexi listening in. While he was glad she’d come out to him, he was keenly aware that she was hurt by the situation. The last thing he wanted to do was rub it in her face.

  Taking a deep breath, Alex focused on the game and spun his camera around to get his bearings. They were in the middle of a deep wood
ed valley with mountains all around. Arid, dusty plateaus lay to the west, snowcapped peaks to the east, but their obvious destination lay to the north.

  The black silhouette of enormous castle ruins lay at the end of the valley, perched atop a rocky mountain. A flag fluttered from the top of the half-crumbled heap. However, between it and them lay a dense swamp. While it was clearly the shortest route, it was probably the most challenging and deadly terrain found in Caroon, containing all manner of pitfalls and creatures.

  Alex drew his swords, about to plunge into the swamps after SonicWarrior when team 8bit attacked, and they were quickly drawn into a fierce battle. When he looked around, it appeared that CrushU was the only team to avoid the instant carnage, giving them a head start on everyone.

  He bit back his mounting anxiety and focused on the enemy before him, on pushing his fingers to move faster, his eyes to remain focused. He ignored the throbbing at his temples and the stabs of pain in his chest every time he took a deep breath. But as the battle raged and the adrenaline flowed, it faded into the background until all that remained were the images on the screen and the buttons under his fingertips.

  Finally, they took the other team down. The sound of a gong resounded throughout the stadium. “8bit has fallen,” the announcer proclaimed. “Four teams remain.”

  Alex paused to take stock of his avatar’s injuries and remaining health potions, but there was no time to breathe. The gong sounded again, and a second team’s destruction was announced. Alex spun his avatar to watch as the remaining team, Hellbent, now set their sights on them.

  He readied himself for another attack, but after a moment, the other team turned away. They headed for the arid mountain range that ran along the valley’s west side.

  “Where are they going?” Penny asked. “Come back here and fight!” The ogre charged forward, but the sorceress blocked his path.

  “There’s no time,” Trevor told her. “CrushU has a twenty minute lead on us. If we stayed to fight, even if we won, we’d lose the game. There would be no way to catch up. With any luck, we can still beat them to the flag and avoid another battle altogether.”

  Alex agreed, and he suspected Hellbent knew that, too, or they wouldn’t have walked away. However, a part of him couldn’t help but hope that they would eventually run into CrushU. He would have given up all the prize money for the chance to defeat SonicWarrior with his own hands. But he kept this to himself as their characters headed in the opposite direction of Hellbent.

  The freezing slopes of the wintry mountains would be their passage to the flag. It might have been a longer path than the base of the valley, but he could only hope it would take less time than slogging through the boggy swamps.

  Thoughts of revenge kept him focused, kept his senses sharp as they scaled slippery glaciers and slid down snowy peaks on Sugarplum’s wide back. But as they began to cross the ice fields, the sound of a gong stilled Alex’s fingers.

  “Hellbent has fallen,” the announcer bellowed. “Only two teams remain.”

  Penny gasped, bouncing in her seat. “We’re that much closer to winning!”

  “No,” Trevor said. “It means nothing else stands in CrushU’s way. They might get to the flag before we can even catch up to them.”

  Alex groaned in frustration. “But we can’t go any faster.”

  He sensed Katie stiffen next to him. “We can’t, but you can. You’re the fastest one in the group. Faster than any other character in Caroon. The announcer said all we need is one member to reach the flag.” She turned and fixed him with an imploring stare. “You need to go on ahead of us.”

  He shared a look with the rest of his team. Their expressions were hard with resolve; it was the only way. “But what about you guys?” he asked.

  “We’ll be right behind you,” Katie said. “But the only chance we have of reaching the flag before they do is with speed.”

  Alex chewed on his lip. “And if I don’t beat them to the flag? If I run into them along the way all by myself? What then?”

  “We’ll cross that bridge when we get there,” Trevor said. “You’re our only hope of winning now.”

  Alex took a deep breath. “No pressure or anything.”

  Katie laid a hand on his arm and squeezed. “Go.”

  With a nod, he tapped a combination of keys, and Dark_Prince left at a sprint.

  …

  The flag flashed red and yellow in a breeze that tugged at Dark_Prince’s clothes. He was close enough that Alex could see the royal crest clearly against Caroon’s Colors. But if he was this close, then that meant CrushU was probably even closer. His heart kicked up a notch and urgency gripped his body. Where were they?

  Tapping into his character’s natural speed and agility, he weaved his way through the remnants of an old castle that littered the side of the rocky mountain it once stood atop. Leaping from rock to rock, his avatar scaled part of a turret, balanced along toppled walls, and scrambled up boulders.

  Next to him, Katie glanced at his screen. “Don’t waste time staying low. You want them to see you coming. If they’re anywhere close to the flag, then the only thing that will tempt SonicWarrior away from it will be the chance to face off with you.”

  “You got that right,” Lexi said. “Considering the way he egged you on in the lobby, his ego is too big to ignore a chance at killing you.”

  Alex laughed. “Gee, thanks.”

  “He won’t get the chance, though,” Trevor said. “We’ll be there to help you.”

  Penny popped a candy into her mouth. “We’re right behind you.”

  Just as Alex was beginning to worry CrushU would beat him to the finish, the path opened up onto a plateau below the flag. His surroundings were perfectly flat, the stones interlocked and worn smooth by time. He realized it must have been the floor of a great hall within the heart of the destroyed castle. From there, he spotted CrushU heading up the last stretch to the flag.

  Out of their original five team members, only SonicWarrior, the light mage, and the berserker remained. He watched Julian’s avatar slink over the castle rubble on all four paws, agile and swift.

  Eyeing his screen again, Katie gasped, probably at how close they were to the flag. “There they are. Stall them.”

  “How?” Alex asked.

  “Kill him!” Penny yelled. “Kill him!”

  He could hear her jumping in her seat at the other end of their row. He wasn’t sure if she was talking to him or if she was in the heat of her own battle somewhere back in the wintry mountains.

  Katie chuckled. “You heard Penny. Kill him.”

  He gave her a sidelong look. “SonicWarrior is a level sixty-two. And there are three of them and one of me.”

  Katie shrugged. “You’re alone, so maybe you can goad him into fighting you one-on-one like Lexi said.” But that was all he got from his idea girl. Her focus was on her screen where Fairy_gurl and Lady_L were battling a yeti.

  Here goes nothing, Alex thought, and he snuck Dark_Prince across the worn flagstones.

  When he was within reach, he equipped a dagger and flung it at SonicWarrior. It flew through the air before sinking into the tiger’s back. It did little damage but certainly got his attention.

  Spinning, SonicWarrior reached over his shoulder for the claymore strapped to his back. The mage’s white hair whipped around in a violent wind as she prepared a spell. Grunting and flexing, the berserker charged his rage attack, ready to release it on Alex’s avatar.

  Even with noise-cancelling head phones on, Alex heard the stadium go crazy as they saw it all play out on the giant screens overhead. They cried out for blood. He tensed, his fingers hovering over the keyboard, waiting for CrushU to attack. Instead, SonicWarrior sheathed his weapon, like “no threat here.”

  A moment later, a request for a mic chat popped up on Alex’s screen. It was from CrushU. He scowled. Why would he want to talk to them? Just as he was about to click reject, he got an idea.

  Alex turned to the others. �
�Everyone mute your mics.”

  He got a few strange looks but no one questioned it. They all clicked their mute buttons so they wouldn’t be heard once they connected with the other team; however, they would still hear everything that was going on. Once they all gave him the thumbs-up, he clicked on accept invite to mic chat.

  Julian’s snide voice leaked into his ears. “All by yourself, Dark_Prince? Where’s the rest of your pathetic team?”

  “Lost to the wintery mountains,” he said. It wasn’t a lie, exactly. “One in the frozen lake, one on the ice cliffs, and two by the hands of the yeti.” Since only the audience could see what was really happening on the big screens, CrushU wouldn’t know he was bending the truth.

  Julian laughed. “And you think you stand a chance against the three of us?”

  “Ego,” Katie mouthed to him and Alex nodded.

  “All three of you?” he asked. “Are you afraid to fight me one-on-one?” He tried to sound as demeaning as he could.

  “Afraid? Of you?” Drawing his claymore, SonicWarrior walked toward Dark_Prince and away from the flag.

  The mage cut him off. “This is an unnecessary risk when we’re so close,” she said. “Beat him by winning.”

  “Risk? There’s no risk in teaching this novice a lesson.”

  “It could be a trap,” a deep male voice said, and Alex assumed this was the berserker.

  Julian snorted. “Are you scared?”

  He didn’t give him the chance to answer before his character leapt down to the stone floor. The tiger stalked closer to Alex like a predator hunting its prey. Even as the flag cast him in its shadow, promising victory, his arrogance and pride were louder than any argument his team could give him. Katie had been right. Ego was his weakness.

  The mage and berserker jumped down, too, preparing to unleash their abilities on Alex’s dark elf, but Julian stopped them. “No. I’ll take care of this. One-on-one is hardly fair. Three against one is just plain cruel.”

  Alex’s teeth ground together at the tone of his voice, adding to the throb in his concussed head. He wanted nothing more than to lay into him with his dual swords, but he held back. He couldn’t let his own ego get in the way. He had to be smart about this. If he played it right, he could delay things long enough for the rest of his team to catch up.