Fair Game

Chapter 1

"On your right! Get him, go go go!" shouted a voice behind me.

I glued my eyes on the red circle that indicated the player on the opposing side. "I got him!"

The word 'VICTORY' flashed on all the screens in the room. My teammates and I stood up, cheered, and high-fived each other. One of the girls in the room was Bree McIntosh, my best friend, and the leader of our esports team. The other was my longtime friend Daniella (Dani) Seaforth. She only played to hang out with us and to fill up a spot of the mandatory 4 players rule. Now, we were only 1 player short from entering to play at the California Gaming Convention (CGC).

"See what can be accomplished when we trust each other and work as a team?" grinned Bree.

"Totally!" I agreed, hugging her. Through the now darkened computer screen, I could see my golden bronze skin and purple-dyed curls compared to Bree's always pale face and dark straight hair.

Oh, I forgot to introduce ME to you. Hello, my name's Lissie La Salle and I'm 16-years-old. I've been playing online games since I was 5 and I always have lots of fun doing so, even though I'm pretty competitive. My friends and I spend every spare second we have practicing for the big competition at the convention.

"Now to find a fourth player..." Bree mumbled.

"I actually have that taken care of. Thank me later." Dani cracked her mysterious version of a smile, as she turned her head to the door. "Elijah?"

The door flung open. A guy with straw-blonde hair and misty grey eyes walked into the little game room that was located in the basement of my house.

I frowned. "Who? Was he just waiting out there?"

"Lol, maybe! This is Elijah, my neighbour," Dani introduced us. "And Elijah, these are my besties. Bree and Lissie."

Elijah nodded at us. "Hey y'all."

"He just moved from Texas," Dani filled us in. "We had a... quite interesting encounter in front of my house."

Elijah chuckled. "Daniella basically fell in front of me and went ballistic when she thought I was a stalker. Then, she went on and on about..."

"Long story short, I found out he played too and isn't on a team. So I invited him to join ours. See? It's perfect."

Bree scowled. "Dani, we don't even know how he plays. And you just told him he could be on the team? You know the rules."

"Sorry, sorry. I was just so excited," she said casually.

"Hey, I'm flexible. I can play offence, defense, anything," Elijah offered.

"That's sweet, but we have to know if you're any good. So show us, new kid," Bree whisked her hands in front of the empty seat with the computer that hadn't been turned on in months. Sore subject. The last member decided to quit after being fed up with Bree's "bossiness". But both Dani and I knew that was just how she operated, so we've been on the team for almost a year.

"Put me in," Elijah announced confidently, taking a seat at the empty spot.

Bree sat down on her seat, looked at me and mouthed, "Can you believe this guy?" I rolled my eyes at her teasingly.

"At least give him a chance," I whispered, so only she could hear. We all put our headphones back on while Bree tapped the play button.

Only 10 minutes later, we had won. A record for our team.

"Elijah, you're in. Welcome to the Subsonic Cobras," announced Bree. She shook hands with him and smiled.