Because I'm a Girl

Chapter 14

It was the day of the tournament. Josh, Jerry, Ben, Tony and I sat at a table. We were in the centre of a hall, surrounded by dozens of other tables that were also filled by students from other schools. All of us were waiting as two schools versed, their game displayed on a huge screen above a stage, where the players sat in front of tvs.

Jerry, Ben and Tony were talking actively, trying to determine how quick it would take to defeat the team we would go against soon. Josh was listening, but he didn't speak. He simply watched them and I watched him, wondering why he hadn't acknowledged me. Jerry, Ben and Tony hadn't acknowledged me either, but I expected that. What I didn't expect was Josh ignoring me.

My eyes remained on him because I had nothing better to do and I took in how bored he looked. His arms were crossed over his chest, his black hair falling across his forehead, and I nearly jumped when his eyes flew over to me. They stayed on me for a moment, unreadable, and then flew back to Jerry. I remained frozen, wondering if I had done something wrong.

Knowing I shouldn't be pining over someone who was ignoring me, I let my eyes roam around the hall. There were hundreds of people in the room, but barely any girls. For every five tables, there was one girl among a crowd of guys. All of them looked uncomfortable and my eyes softened, knowing how overwhelming it had to be.

Thinking about the lack of girls, I made a note to get more girls interested in video games. Brightening up, I realized my club could have a video game event.

"Erendale has won," the host announced as the losing school left the stage. "Cyrus Collegiate Institute, please come to the stage."

All of us rose from our seats and we walked over to the stage. I hadn't thought much of the tournament. I hadn't been stressing about it, but now I felt my heart skip a beat. As we got onto the stage and sat in chairs in front of tvs, I realized I was about to show a hundred people my ability to play Call of Duty. The idea was nerve wracking because I knew I needed to prove girls could play video games, but I was confident I could do it.

Glancing to my right, I saw Josh sitting beside me. We were going to share a tv and I wanted to say something, but his eyes were glued to the screen. Although Josh was never the most social person, I wondered why he was ignoring me. I wondered why he wouldn't acknowledge me at the very least. Something about the thought left me uneasy and only when Jerry shot me a look, telling me to pick my weapon, did I realize the game was going to start.

My eyes flew back to the tv and after I chose my gun, the game begun. We were playing team deathmatch with our team versing Erendale's. We had to reach a hundred kills collectively as a team to win the game and I was confident we could.

Biting my lip, I rushed around the dessert map and shot whoever was on the opposing team, killing them with ease. I had been playing video games since I was four and throughout the years, I had developed fast reflexes. That was why I seemed unstoppable as I ran across the map.

After ten minutes, the game came to an end and we won. I stared at the scoreboard and my jaw dropped when I saw Josh had gotten the most kills with nearly forty. He hadn't died once, and I looked at my own score and saw I got thirty kills, but three deaths.

"Cyrus has won," the host announced. "Can Nano Collegiate Institute please come to the stage."

Jerry looked over at us and smiled, radiating with joy. A small smile reached my lips because I had to admit, we were a good team. All of us were strong players and I was confident we could win the tournament.

"Okay, we just have to beat the next twenty schools," Jerry said, grinning. "We got this."

"We got this," Tony agreed, smiling as well.