Chapter One
“Get off your computer and come down, or we’ll be late!” I hear someone call from downstairs. I shake my head, even though I know she can’t see me.
“Nuh-uh, Cheyenne, not now! I’m trying to level up!” Cheyenne stomps into my room, hands crossed over her chest. She’s pouting.
“What now?”
“Well, I got Al Kasava against the Royal Guards! And Theory and I are going to tear it up,” I say, turning back around and trying my over-curly hair into a ponytail. My snacks and drinks are laid out by how many kills/deaths I have.
“Al ka-what? Royal Guards? And who’s Theory?” Cheyenne says, sitting on my bean chair.
“Al Kasava, a Capture the Flag sort of game. I just bought my rare mech, and I’m intending on using it. And the Royal Guards are my opponents. And Theory is my forty person guild of level 30’s and up.” I mutter quickly, turning my attention towards the game. I bite my lip. “The match is going to start in a minute!”
Cheyenne groans.
“Ugh, that stupid game again?” I gasp, and my hand flies to my chest.
“Uh-uh! Not stupid,” I adjust my glasses and gnaw on my pre-game snack; Oreos. “You just don’t understand. If you’d play the game-.”
“Ugh, I don’t even know why I’m friends with you,” she scoffs.
I turn around and grin up at my best friend.
“’Cause you love me. Simple as that,” I turn back to my computer just as the warning call for the match comes up. I hear Cheyenne scoff again, but we’ve been friends since third grade, and we can’t get rid of each other.
“But… we’ll be late.”
“Uh, no. The roller rink is open from seven to midnight. It’s like five, and I live fifteen minutes away from it. You just want to see Karsten.” I chomp on a Lays chip and the match starts.
My Defender, Zelestame, jumps into a rare Freyja and attacks a mob of Royal Guards.
“5 kills in one go! That’s what’s up!” I shout, with a fist pump into the air.
“Maybe you should go out with that guy Rico,” Cheyenne says, scrolling down her phone, checking Instagram probably.
“Oh, you only want me to go out with him because he’s Karsten’s only black friend. I don’t even care about having a boyfriend at the moment, Chey,” I say, not turning from my screen. Nine kills before my first death. “Dang.” I sigh.
“Well, it’s still something you should look into,” Cheyenne says. I roll my eyes, and change into a rare cybersuit.
I’m twenty kills and two deaths in, when a guy from my team whispers me.
TheIrish: Hey, you going into the Royal Guard Flag Tower?
Zelestame: Yeah, I’m heading to the left. Why?
TheIrish: Go on. I’ll cover you.
TheIrish’s a Shadow Walker, and there DPS is pretty high, and there mech’s are sick, so it seems appropriate for him to cover me.
“Stevie, you’re talking out loud. Please tell me this TheIrish person is a hot guy,” Cheyenne says. I frown.
“I don’t know. This is an all-girl cast, so I don’t know how hot he may or may not be,” I say. TheIrish does as he promises, and safely gets me to the Royal Guard Flag Tower. Several kills on the way.
