Dare You to Chase the Soccer Player (Rock Valley High 5)

I can’t do it without you.

Indecision raged through me as my gaze flicked from the screen to the hockey player currently bowling down the ice with his stick, darting toward the puck. Gabriel managed to snag it and a few seconds later, he shot it into the goal, scoring the first goal for the game. The siren sounded and I squeezed my eyes shut as I typed off a swift answer.

Me: I’ll be there.

With that, I shut my phone off and slid it back into my pocket. Maybe I’d entered into a whole new complication with Gabriel Corrigan as my online battle partner, but there was no reason

to think he’d figure out who I was. I just had to keep my cool, as always, and keep my identity under wraps.

“I’m not sure I like hockey,” Charlotte said as two players rammed into the walls of the arena in a battle for the puck. She grimaced and covered her face with her hands.

Lexi flinched, too, when another guy slammed into the first. “I think I’m with Charlotte. Isn’t this a bit...violent?”

“Exactly!” both guys answered simultaneously, grinning.

I smiled to myself, knowing that my best friends didn’t understand my gaming, either. That’s why I’d found a friend like Battlescar13.

He didn’t know who I was, and it was going to stay that way.

And just maybe, I’d find out a way to work this friendship to my advantage.

The Corrigan boys had been a thorn in my side since we were kids. It was time they learned that I didn’t always play nice. And that a girl like me could take them on, anytime, anywhere.

They’d never see it coming.

***