Don't Hate the Player: Part I

Jake winced every time the squelchy sound of stabbing punctuated the enemy’s hits on the knight until the fateful phrase YOU DIED flashed across the screen.

I was so off my game last night that Byunki sent me a DM asking if I’d been practicing with Pharaoh outside of team scrimmages, which I absolutely have been but not as much as I have in previous weeks.

I almost didn’t say yes to the second date, but having the excuse of talking to boys is a better cover for GLO than holing up in my room with the lights off for no discernable reason, so I went along with it.

Penny Darwin has ruled our year since middle school with the fierceness of a Habsburg empress and the fear- inducing poise of a lioness.

Penny Darwin has ruled our year since middle school with the fierceness of a Habsburg empress and the fear-inducing poise of a lioness.

“Hey, I got you a latte.” I slide Connor’s unloved gift onto the table in front of Penny, a tithe for the queen.

She leans in toward me and whispers conspiratorially, “She’s running.”

Wizzard Games and Claricom are proud to announce their dual ownership of the East Coast’s first all-Esports stadium venue.

JHoops: and don't bring KOD up again I'm trying to have a nice birthday
ElementalP: One day moratorium on KOD, aka mystery girl, aka one half of my OTP.

I’m not sure if he does that because of some innate goodness or if he’s genuinely not smart enough to be mean.

I can’t actually connect with him on that front because showing a single iota of familiarity with the game would raise too many questions, but hearing him talk about it reminds me the gaming landscape is a normal place to be and not, as my parents assume, a Hieronymus Bosch painting full of deadbeats.

And Jesus said, let the little children manifest their latent anxiety disorders when they don’t get into NYU.

And Jesus said, let the little children manifest their latent anxiety disorders when they don’t get into NYU.

My SAT score is fine. I prep on the side when I can fit it in. Besides, for admissions it’s more useful to look at the median, not the average.

She’s putting too much out there, acting overeager instead of exacting.

It would look mega weird if the field hockey coach called up UPenn to advocate for her own daughter, but since parents aren’t supposed to be involved in advisor meetings, Grimes can bring me up with their coach without it looking nepotistic.

The other method of winning a GLO match is more mundane: you have to stake a claim on a payload that’s hidden somewhere on the map and stay close enough to it to jack up enough points on a payload timer.

The squelch of the wet ground in my ear is gross enough, but grosser still is rolling over and seeing Audra’s blond head looming over me with the fakest apology face I have ever seen in my life.

Squandering an inch of the headway they earned is like crapping on my abuela’s grave while telling the two hardest-working Puerto Ricans in Pennsylvania that they’ve wasted their entire lives.

I feel like I knew empirically that green rooms aren’t actually green, but it was still kind of a bummer to walk in and see that we’re basically quartered in a windowless basement room.

Byunki cuts me off before I can.
“She’s got reasons,” he says brusquely.

The panic I was feeling before is transmuting into excitement.

I whistle for Erik, and he obliges, using his healer Jenkins’s cannon to send me up and over the map.

The team that hits first always gets a boost, and the more damage we deal, the faster we earn more points toward deploying our best abilities.

One of Vulcan’s DPSes is trying to take him down, but Byunki has his shields up every fraction of a second, parrying his attacks.

We basically clamor all over each other as we follow Byunki through the arena’s staging area, just an absolute conga line of arm rubs, high fives, and shaking each other by the shoulders while jumping around (I thought that only happened in sports movies, but nope; it’s happening IRL).

This feels like love. It’s teamwork! We are Fury, and I’m a part of this. I could either vomit or fly, whichever one feels more plausible.

“A checkmate on her first match! KNOX got a checkmate on her first match.” I could do without Erik’s disbelieving tone, but I’ll take the accolades where I can get them.

That’s me, talking somehow even though my mouth feels like it belongs to someone else. My usual level of articulation has been substantially reduced by the sheer volume of adrenaline swishing through my bloodstream.

Byunki’s voice slices through the chatter as he marches his tiny, imposing body up to me in the room.