Computers, Basketball and Love

Chapter 5

Once back at their dorm Zack walked over to Josh, "I have a suspicion that I want to get your opinion on."

"Shoot. What is it? Maybe I can help," Josh was always willing to help a friend if he could.

"You remember the conversation we had with Coco not long ago. When it was just you and me online?" Zack asked.

"Yeah. Why?"

"Think about that conversation... The problem she had and the solution I gave her," Zack said. He didn't say more because he wanted to see if his friends thought the process would be the same as his.

Josh stood there staring off into space for a few minutes thinking about the conversation Zack was talking about. "Wait a minute... you don't mean that you think...?"

"Yeah I do think that. Especially when you look at all of the other details."

"Surely we can't be right. Right?" Josh asked.

Fred had heard only a part of what they were talking about, but he heard enough to be curious. "What on earth are you two talking about?"

They both looked at Fred and Zack said, "So that day that Josh and I got on and played with Coco before you and Nik got on we had a conversation with her that seems rather similar to today's events."

"What do you mean? I don't remember what you told us about the conversation you had with her."

Josh asked Fred, "Give a brief description of what happened at the basketball court today."

Fred thought for a minute, "Cora competed with a guy to get guys to quit asking her out."

"Yes, exactly. That day before you and Nik got online I gave that same advice to Coco as a solution to the problem she was having. And if you think about her gamer id and the few things we know about her..." Zack stopped talking.

"Holy shit. You're not saying that Cora is.... No way. That is too big a coincidence."

"I don't think it's a coincidence either." After saying that Zack looked at Nikola and so did the other two.

"Hey Nik, is there something that you want to tell us?" Josh asked Nik.

Nikola looked at them and smiled, "I don't know what you are talking about."

"Wait... you aren't saying that he knew all this time who we had been playing with are you?" Fred asked

"I think that he did know, and never bothered to tell us." Zack looked at Nikola and said, "Are we even your friends? You didn't even bother to tell us that you knew who she was."

Nikola laughed at his friends, "Fine I will tell you guys. The first time I saw her she was at the library studying. I saw her sign into the game and duel someone. Believe me, she's even better than you realize. She is quick. It's no wonder that she beat me when I challenged her." He paused for a second. "Even though I saw her, I only saw the back of her. So all I really saw was her gamer id and the fact that she has red hair."

"So when did you find out who she is?" Josh asked him impatiently.

"I realized that Coco was Cora when we found out that she was the top girl for our department in the beauty contest. That's when we found out her name."

"Seriously... That's when you found out they were the same person?" Josh asked.

"Yeah, think about it. I saw her gamer id and knew she had red hair. Then a girl with her name who also has red hair. How could I not figure it out then?"