Merlin's Curse

CHAPTER 4: @ZGreatWizard2

Journal Entry #2

Ahhhhhhahhhhhahhhh!!!!!!!

That's me screaming. Can you hear me? Are you even there, Alex? I feel like the tree falling in the forest that no one hears. You know that book, Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day?

Well, after today I can write the sequel.

My life here is supposed to be different. I was going to be cool. And now I'm Merboy Z Glupyy. That's Russian for stupid. Why am I glupyy—I'm too embarrassed to say. So don't ask. But that's what everyone at the school calls me now. And they're not wrong. Well, everyone except for Zahir and G. So, maybe we're friends.

That would be cool, right?

G's my roommate. But he ignored me when I asked what his real name is—does he know what he's doing to me? I mean, G...that can't be his actual name, right? I'm freaking out!

G has no meaning!!!!!

It's just a letter...ooh, the seventh letter. Maybe that's why G sounds so cool. He's asleep now. And he looks like a mouse under his covers. A mouse named G.

My favorite thing about my new home is how The Breakers sits on a cliff overlooking the ocean. We have the biggest, most beautiful green lawn you've ever seen that stretches on forever until you fall off the cliff. That's where we have PE class. And I might have been too busy admiring the checker pattern of the grass to see Luke spike the volleyball toward me at warp speed. The hit knocked me off my feet and left a Wilson imprint on my face. Point Luke. That's a kill in volleyball lingo—here at the academy too. 

I like kills better in FPS games. They don't hurt as much.

My team lost. Another -10 XP for me while Luke got bonus XP for the Wilson imprint. My life. Why do short people assume tall people like sports? Or that we're naturally good at sports?

"Put Glupyy up front—he's tall." That's what Liam said. He's a stubby ramrod with his thick neck and meaty shoulders—unless he's standing next to G. Then he looks like a beast. A crazy beast who loves attention. 

Luke laughed at the suggestion because he knows the truth. I'm like a denuded dandelion dancing in the wind. And I have the attention span of a mosquito. It sucks. Too much? Well, that's me. Unless I'm on a computer. Then I'm like a squirrel with a nut. Or like Gollum with his ring.

My precious...

Because computers are the only semblance of magic in my life. I can be what I want or who I want and do what I want—all when I want. So of course, on this Dreadful, Horrifying, No Bueno, Very Awful Day, I haven't been able to touch my precious until now—and it's almost midnight.

I mean, this is a coding school, right—Code-X Academy? The same place I won a scholarship to for my wizardry in computers?  Well, after PE I had English, a mind-numbing experience that only proves why I'll always be cursed. We debated a popular quote from the French writer, Jean-Baptiste Alphonse Karr. Impressed that I remember his name? Don't be. Nothing falls out of my brain, even when painful or forgettable.

But this Jean-Baptiste guy understood my reality. Practically everyone knows his saying, "The more things change, the more they stay the same." What most people don't know is what he wrote next: "Turbulent changes do not affect reality on a deeper level other than to cement the status quo."

Ahhhhhhahhhhhahhhh!!!!!!!

That's me screaming again. Because you can put me in the coolest place in the world...surround me with the coolest people in the world...allow me to do the coolest thing in the world...and I will never be cool. My status quo is cemented.

Freak'n Merlin's beard—I'm cursed.

We had a mandatory squad meeting at dinner. I kept my food selection, well, safe: chicken nuggets, no dipping sauce, and water. And I went through all the right doors this time. Ooh, and Zahir and G sat next to me. We never really spoke because Jupiter chewed us out most of the night and then she talked strategy until forever. She's the first girl at Code-X Academy to ever lead a squad. And she's not too happy about being in last place.

By a lot.

My incident at lunch didn't help since the XP for our squad is the sum of our individual XP. But now I have a better understanding of what Zahir meant when he said Fydor is a Killer or when Jupiter said killing is encouraged. The girl is on the war path. Her entire strategy is to create more Killers.

Oh, shoot, Alex, are you a gamer? Sorry, I shouldn't make assumptions—even with your cool name. There are four types of gamers: Achievers, Explorers, Socializers, and Killers. Jupiter wants me to be a Killer. 

Killers win at all costs—they love to see others lose. DOOM Squad has as many Killer PCs as Contra and Gauntlet combined. And they are crushing the rankings. I'm not sure what kind of gamer I am. 

I love to explore new worlds. Finding easter eggs and unlocking new levels is pretty awesome. But I'm definitely an achiever, too; I geek out over rankings and badges. At least I can cross off being a Socializer. Not really my thing. Ha-ha, surprised, right? But when I get in attack mode, the Killer always comes out in me.

I don't understand why we need to be labeled. But we are. And here at the academy, getting killed more than you kill is the fastest way to destroy your XP. Kind of like getting Wilson imprints spiked onto your head more than you give them.

Yup. That still hurts.

Thankfully, being a Killer has nothing to do with the boy who died—for real. The glupyy boy was goofing off along the cliff's edge in the dark and fell. G and another PC saw the whole thing. Now we're not allowed to go near the cliff at night.

Can you imagine? I hope I never see someone die. Maybe that's why G has been so quiet since I moved into his dorm room. His name was Preston—he was G's roommate. So sad. And of course, I get to replace the dead boy.

* * *

Hey—I'm back. Sorry, this was getting a little heavy. And I needed a break to do some other...stuff.

Luke is so lucky. He replaced a girl—not dead. Why is his life so easy? He's like the opposite of cursed. But this girl was the other PC booted from the academy because she couldn't hack the game-based learning model. Hehe—I know, I'm good. Jupiter said her XP fell out of acceptable range for too long because she's a Socializer and lost focus. 

I guess this is all a long way of saying—I'm so screwed!

Seriously. No one has ever ended a day with negative XP at the academy. At least not until Merboy Z Glupyy. Yup, as Fydor would say, I'm z first at -90. That's why Jupiter says I need to become a Killer, and that I have one week to get my XP over 300. Or I'll set another record with the shortest academy stay.

But as terrible as this day has been, I've never been part of a squad or had a place to sit at lunch or a roommate to talk to or lived on a cliff in a place I've loved so much. Even my simple bedroom on the fifth floor—because there are no mermaids. And I can still hear the ocean waves breaking against the cliff. For the first time in my life, I feel like a Merlin—a sea fortress­—in a stronghold where no one shuts off the internet or the breaker to my room or tells me when to go to bed.

So...it may now be 4am.

And I may have spent all night hacking into Fydor's account to change my name to @ZGreatWizard2. Maybe I am a Killer. But I'm definitely not glupyy. Because when I touch a computer here at the academy, I am...magic!