Where the Consoles Lead, The Heart Will Follow

Pokemon Tournament 2007

Jackie's Pov

"You call that your best Pokemon? Ha! My Bidoof can kick your butt any day!"

"Don't underestimate the power of Shuckle, and.... BOOM! And just like that, your Bidoof is history. I win!" I cried in triumph. This is my... This is another win for me. I honestly lost track.

I stand up from the chair sitting in front of my defeated opponent to shake his hand. "You only got lucky, if your Shuckle hadn't gotten lucky, I would've won for sure." With those words of defense, he turns around off the stage. That victory puts me in the final round of the Pokemon Tournament. If I win, I can finally afford what I've worked so hard on.

I walk off stage, letting the crew prepare the stage for the final round. While they do that, I figured it would be best I scouted out the competition first. A friendly encounter of course!

I asked the stage crew where they would be. They pointed me in the direction, I thanked them and was on my way to greet my next opponent.

Knock knock

I heard some shuffling, and saw the door open. "Really? You have to have your own dressing room?" I questioned them.

I saw the figure come out from behind the door, and I now stand face to face with my opponent. He stands an inch above me, freckled face and dark orbs of irises. He had a look of confusion from my remark, but then noticed who I was. "Oh, my quite the attitude we've got now? Jealous? No, they insisted I take it, since and I quote 'I'm such a high profiled gamer'" hm, I've never seen him before. Then again, I only know about my games, not other gamers.

FYI, I'm not much of a people person. Yeah I can make witty remarks and quick comebacks, but that's it. I don't know how to continue a conversation unless there are options of what to say lying in front of me, like in the games. "Then how come I've never heard of you?" Like I said, I don't know any gamers. I'm home schooled, I dedicate my free hours to wise things. Like dieting properly, exercise, and video games, not necessarily in that order. But not researching who plays the games.

"Well in that case, hi. I'm Conor. I on the other hand research who I face against, and you, I have no clue who you are." He held out his hands, basically waiting for me to shake it, but being the awkward person I am, I fist bumped him. I mentally winced at how painful it was to be me in these situations.

"Hehe, awkward I see." He pulled back his hand.

"Is it that obvious?" I replied sarcastically, leaning to the one side hip popping out in a sassy manner I had practiced many times before for situations like these, arms crossed.

"Ooh, but she's sarcastic. Sassy! My friends would enjoy you." He invites me in. An announcement was made that the final round would be tomorrow due to unknown reasons. Probably technical malfunctioning. I knit iced he had his phone pulled out as I walked in. "I texted them to drop by, with a ride. Do you have anywhere to be today?"

"Nope, not since the finals are canceled." I recalled my previous plans to meet up with my mom, taking the bus to see her, but I'm sure she wouldn't mind hearing I had finally made a friend. Maybe by the end of this I can make more than one.

Once he finished with what he needed on his phone, he invited me to sit down. I did so, and he followed my actions. But I noticed that these chairs are really soft and bouncy. I couldn't help but jump up and down a bit, a wide grin plastered on my face. Conor noticed what I was doing, and couldn't help but laugh at my actions. "Bouncy?"

"Yes they are." I replied with delight

"I wasn't talking about the chair" with his words, I stopped bouncing, thinking I had done wrong. I looked back at his freckled face and noticed his wide grin slightly smaller now. I don't read people well, but it seems as if he was sad that I had stopped my playful gestures.

A long silence came between us, turning into awkward silence, my specialty. I've never been happily greeted by an opponent. They usually have witty remarks like, "are you even old enough" or "you have to be this tall to join us" and the rare "but you're a girl". But none of those comments bothered me, they were just motivation to defeat them. I always won when they were mean, but this guy. He's nice, I don't know if I'll have enough motivation to defeat him. But I do have the motivation. I've come so far to winning these competitions, raising money. No way was I gonna stop with the nice guy. Especially when I'm so close to raising enough money for the surgery.

I reminded myself to distance myself from my opponent. That is until after the finals. Conor must have noticed my deep train of thoughts. "Hey, you alright?

"Um, yeah. I-I'm fine." I stuttered out, trying not to make eye contact. If I had looked at him, he would've been able to see my wary face. He can't know, no one can. Not until the problem is fixed.

"You don't look fine. Somethings on your mind, come on you can tell me." He got up and moved closer to me. Close enough so our knees were touching. He placed a hand on my knee, from what I understand, to reassure me.

"I-I want to know why you entered this competition?" I said finally looking up into his eyes.

He took a second, trying to gather the right words it seems. "I was going to use the money to get me even more out there, get my name out there"

"Oh, really. Hey, what school do you go to?"

"I'm actually homeschooled. It's great. I get to do my school work, but still practice on my skills. What school do you go to?"

"Oh, I don't go to school. Well I do, but I'm home schooled too."

"Oh that's coo--"

Knock knock

"Oh, that must be them. I'll get it." Conor got up and opened the door, and in came barging in three boys in total. The moment Conor opened the door, they piled in one after another, stacked on one another. It was bizarre, seeing people behave like this. "Guys, calm down, you're going to scare her!" He joked. He gestured his hand towards me, showing his friends who he meant by "she" and I just waved, not knowing what else to do.

"Hey guys, ready to go?"
"Yeah, Conor. But who's this cutie? She seems a bit too young for you" one of his friends joked. From what I can tell, I'm just about the same age as them, I'm just short.
"Oh this is....I actually never caught your name." He paused waiting for me to answer him.

I was about to answer him, but my phone started buzzing like crazy. I picked it out of my pocket and looked who was calling me...it was the hospital.

--

I had asked the guys to give me a ride to the hospital. But why now? When I'm so close to raising the final amount of money needed. I walked up to the service counter, and asked for my mom"s room. The lady at the counter looked at me a little wary at the fact how young I am.

I know what I'm doing. Growing up with my mom having chemotherapy treatments, and my dad trying to keep up on bills and payments, I had to learn how to fend for myself and my family. Cooking, cleaning, on top of my school work and responsibilities.

I just needed one more day. To win the tournament. Then we can finally afford the surgery to rid her of her cancer once and for all. Maybe then my dad would come back home. Maybe then, everything would be back to normal...