“Please, please, please tell me you’re finally going to go after mystery online boy,” she said, baring her teeth in desperation. “I’ve been waiting for this day to come. I’ve got a makeover all planned...”
I grimaced hardcore. No way was Lexi coming anywhere near me with one of her ridiculously expensive makeup brushes. That sounded worse than utter humiliation at the hands of my high school enemies. No, she’d missed the target with that one, but she wasn’t far off on my plan.
“Actually, this is about the mystery online boy,” I said, smiling nervously at her. They knew quite a bit about Battlescar13, but I hadn’t told them his real identity yet. To them, he was still very much a mystery. “But I’m not going after him. Not really. I’m thinking about partnering with him for the club’s gaming tournament this year.”
Lexi’s smile dampened. She glanced over at Charlotte, as if to silently question my sanity. “So...you’re not going to date him? You’re going to game with him?”
“Yeah, pretty much.” I nodded and clasped my clammy hands together in my lap.
“I thought you liked this boy.” She pushed her bottom lip out into a pretty pout. “I was hoping you’d finally find someone so we could triple date. What happened? Did you guys even try to give it a go?”
I threw my head back and laughed hollowly. She’d better not hold her breath. I was pretty sure no guy would ever be interested in a gaming girl who lurked beneath a beanie cap and shuffled as silently as she could between classes to avoid anyone’s attention.
“You can still go out with us, even without a boyfriend,” Charlotte said, placing her hand softly on my knee. “Even if things didn’t work out with this mysterious gamer guy.”
I could tell from the concerned expression in her eyes she was worried Lexi had hurt my feelings. I smiled to reassure her and wiped a stray laughter tear from my eye.
“You guys have no idea what you’re talking about.” I wrinkled my nose as I tried to find the best way to deliver the news. There didn’t seem to be a way to do it softly. Best to just drop it on them all at once. “Turns out—the guy I’ve been gaming with online is Gabriel Corrigan.”
Lexi’s jaw dropped and Charlotte stared blankly at me for an entire ten seconds, before they both scrambled closer to me and started talking at once.
“A Corrigan brother?”
“Don’t you guys hate each other?”
“Why would you game with him?”
I chuckled and held up my hands to stop their tirade. “To answer your questions: yes, yes, and I didn’t know it was him until last week at the hockey game.”
Charlotte nodded solemnly, taking it all in. “Okay, that makes more sense. But why do you want to partner with him in the tournament if he’s so terrible to you?”
“That’s where this gets complicated.”
Expanding my lungs, I took a deep breath of air. Lexi and Charlotte had been my best friends for the better part of the past year. I knew I could trust them, but confessing my idea still felt risky. Would they think I was completely crazy?
“The thing is, Gabriel doesn’t know I’m me,” I said, placing a hand on my chest. My eyes darted back and forth between their confused expressions before I pressed on to explain. “You see, my gaming profile is a picture I stole from some random guy on the internet. He kind of looks like me, but he’s clearly a boy. I made up this fake background about a homeschooled kid. I was getting so much flack for being a girl in the gaming world, that this felt safer. People left me alone. I could game in peace.
“And then, I met Gabriel. But I didn’t know it was Gabriel, until now. And he wants to partner with me, too. If I don’t have a partner for the tournament, I can’t play. And if I can’t play, I can’t prove to them all that girls can game.”
I sucked my bottom lip between my teeth and chewed nervously on it as my friends exchanged looks.
?
??Let me get this straight,” Lexi said slowly, wrinkling her brow. “You’re going to use your fake profile to trick one of the Corrigan brothers, who have made your life miserable since middle school, into helping you win the club tournament?”
My head did an impression of a bobble head doll.
“And he won’t know it’s you?” Charlotte added.
“Not until the final round at the club, when we have to play in person and reveal our identities.”
Lexi bit her bottom lip. “But why doesn’t he partner with his brother?”
“I’m not sure, but I’m guessing Michael’s playing with someone else.” I squirmed in my seat, feeling the strain of waiting for their opinions. “Am I totally crazy? Is this a terrible plan? Tell me now, so I can forget all about it. I’ll just pull out of the tournament. In a few weeks, no one will even remember I dropped out.”
“No way!” Charlotte and Lexi yelled at the same time.
I leaned back, slightly taken aback at their response. They grinned at each other for a second, and then turned back to me.