Life is Not a Game

CHARLOTTE

After we got our books, Tracy led me down the hall toward our calculus class.

“Good morning, Ms. C. This is Charlotte, our new student. Can we sit together?” Tracy asked.

“Oh, good morning, Charlotte, welcome. Of course, Tracy, the seat by you is empty anyway,” Ms. C replied.

I followed Tracy to my new desk and sat down, pulling out my calculus book. The lesson seemed pretty straightforward, so I was able to work ahead on the homework while she went through the class. I actually finished the homework before class was over. That was a relief; it would give me more time to play online. After calculus ended, Tracy led me to the cafeteria.

“Okay, the food here isn’t the greatest, but I guess that’s the case everywhere. I usually get something from the snack bar. They typically have fries and some sort of sandwich or burger option,” Tracy told me, getting in line.

I guess I’ll have water and some fries, then. We made our way through the line, and I grabbed my food and paid.

“Let’s go eat outside. There will be fewer people around,” Tracy suggested, leading me to a side door.

We walked out to a picnic table sitting under a big shade tree. She was right; there was almost no one out here, so it was peaceful. As we sat, she told me about the school.

As I had guessed, she was a cheerleader. I gave her a puzzled look when she said that, wondering why she wasn’t sitting with them. She explained that she wasn’t on speaking terms with the other cheerleaders right now. Apparently, she used to be best friends with them, but recently found out that they were just using her to get to her brother.

It was terrible to treat people like that.

I also learned that her brother, TJ, was her twin.

TJ was on the football team and was super popular. All the girls were infatuated with him, apparently. He wasn’t in any of our classes. She said he focused on sports and other things, not so much on school. He didn’t have the time for AP classes, although he was smart enough to take them if he tried. I could tell by the way she talked that she cared for her brother a lot.

She seemed like a really nice person. Maybe someday I’d even be able to come off mute and talk to her. It would be great to have a female friend. In fact, any friend I could talk to in person would be awesome.

“Oooh, I’ve seen that face before. You’re texting a boy, aren’t you?” Tracy suddenly asked me, making me turn bright red. “Is he a boyfriend?” she asked. I quickly shook my head. “But you like him, I can tell. That’s so cute.”

I liked him? I didn’t think I liked him. I couldn’t really like Jup, not in that way. I’d never met him in person. There had to be physical attraction for you to like someone that way. She didn’t know what she was talking about. He was just a friend—my best friend.

“Oh, lunch is almost over; we better head inside,” she said, changing the subject.

After lunch, the rest of the day went about the same. Tracy pulled me from class to class and introduced me to the teachers, so I didn’t have to talk. I was able to sit next to her in all of my classes, which really made me a lot more comfortable. After class, she asked to see my cell phone and put her number in it—calling herself to store my number in her phone.

“Now we can text. It might be easier for you to communicate that way,” she said with a smile.

We strolled to our cars together, where she offered a friendly wave before hopping into her vehicle and driving off.

Once home, I headed upstairs and fired up my computer. I opened my chat app, but not the game. I had to inform the guys about the change in plans, but after that, I planned to use the computer to work on my AP English paper.

For the next quarter of an hour, I pondered over which aspect of Heathcliff’s emotions I wanted to delve into, and then spent the following forty-five minutes crafting the paper. I was quite pleased with the end result. Once the paper was done, I tackled my chemistry and European history homework.

Both assignments were completed relatively quickly, so by five-thirty, I was done with all my schoolwork. I decided to head downstairs and whip up some dinner, mainly to kill my remaining time. After dinner, I went upstairs to decide what I wanted my character to look like in the expansion. I figured I’d pick a new character since we were basically starting over.

Normally, I played as a male orc, but I wanted something different. I decided to go with a character that actually looked a little like me.

She was a short elf with long curly brown hair, with the top braided into a crown and a gold chain woven into it. A blue jewel hung delicately on her forehead. She wore a pale-blue, floor-length dress that was embellished by a bulky chain around the waist.

She was vastly different from my normal character, but I really liked her. New school, new expansion, new character, new start.

I stepped onto the streets of Andrasia, the starting city for the new expansion. Quickly checking my team log, I saw that both Nep and Jup were already logged in.

I wasn’t sure what either of them looked like, so I scanned the area for attractive-looking females, knowing both of them were partial to playing female characters.

There weren’t many characters in the city, and only one other female, a tall, beautiful blonde wearing a short black mini skirt and tube top. That had to be one of the guys. I was heading over to her when a tall, muscular human walked up to me. He had blond hair, brushed to the side, and muscles for days—I bet this guy is a complete nerd in real life. He must be compensating for something.

I just looked at him, confused.

No way anyone else could be as shameless as him.

“Dude, it’s me, Mars!” I exclaimed, using our voice chat server instead of typing.

“Ew! Man! Why are you a chick?” he asked in shock, over voice.

“Why are you a dude? You usually play as a girl,” was my only reply.

“I wanted to up my game, get chicks both here and in real life,” he replied.

“Why didn’t you hit on that chick?” I questioned, pointing to the character I was pretty sure was Plut.

“That’s obviously Plut. Look at the outfit.”

“I’m glad you figured that one out, at least. Hey, Plut, come join us. Jup should be on soon.”

Suddenly, a loud moan echoed through my headphones.

“Sorry,” Nep said, his voice strained.

“Dude, mute yourself, please,” I said. “And why were you hitting on me in game while obviously with a girl in the real world?”

“Seriously, what’s your problem? Hey, Mars,” Plut chimed in.

A minute later, a notification popped up indicating that Jupiter had joined the game. Then a multicolored butterfly suddenly appeared. I couldn’t believe they had these weird avatars in the game, and that people actually used them.

“Dang it,” Jup yelled, and the butterfly disappeared. I immediately started cracking up. His sister must have messed with his account again. Shortly after, Jup’s normal avatar appeared—his tall elf with black hair pulled up into a high ponytail. His character was muscular too, but more lean muscles than the overwhelming bulk of Plut’s.

“What’s up, bros?” Jup greeted us.

“Don’t answer that, Nep,” I quickly interjected before he could unmute.

“Nep’s got company, I take it?” Jup asked, eliciting a chuckle from Plut.

“When doesn’t he?” Pluto quipped.

“All right, let’s just get to the game,” Jup suggested. “Our first objective should be to find a map. That will tell us where all of the raids are that we need to complete in order to gather the pieces of the tournament ticket.”

“So, where do we get a map?”

“I read on an online blog that the bandits just past the river outside of town drop it,” Plut replied.

“Let’s go bandit hunting,” I said happily as we started to walk out of the city.

“Oh, mushrooms, they drop a powder that can be used to craft decent bullets,” Nep said as soon as we reached the forest.

“Be careful, guys—remember, we are only level one righ—” I began.

Neptune has been slain by a Red Mushroom

“Whoops,” Nep said sheepishly.

“Nep, put your junk away and quit being distracted. This is not like what we are used to playing,” I directed. Being the strategist meant I was in charge of getting us to our goal and defeating the targets.

Crap, I needed to respond to her, but I couldn’t right now. I didn’t want to let my team down. I would just reply after we got the map.

“I…am…not…dis…trac…ted,” Nep insisted, his words punctuated by a rhythmic moaning in the background. What a jerk!

“Nep, is this the same girl from last night?” Jup asked.

“Not…at…all,” he replied.

“Okay, let’s stop asking Nep questions,” I suggested.

“I wonder how good he could be if he wasn’t always distracted when we play,” Plut mused.

“Still not as good as me,” Jup boasted.

“Don’t…be…jeaLOUS,” Nep retorted, his last word shouted. I thought I might throw up.

“Okay, back to the task at hand—we have to treat the mushrooms like a hard mob for now. Let’s fight together to get past them,” I told the team.

Jup, Nep, and Plut worked together to beat a mushroom to death with their fists while I monitored the surroundings to make sure we didn’t catch the attention of any others around.

“I miss my guns,” Plut complained.

“You don’t have your guns when we play PVP,” I noted.

“No, but there are good drops. There isn’t really anything here,” Plut said.

“We’ll get them; just have to work our way back up,” Jup replied.

After they finished destroying the mushroom, I took a second to respond to Tracy’s text before we moved on to the next one.

“Earth to Mars,” Jup said.

“What? Oh, sorry, guys.” I realized they were waiting on me.

“It’s not like you to be distracted,” Jup commented.

“I was texting a friend from school,” I told him.

“A friend?” Plut questioned.

“Was it the girl you ate lunch with?” Jup asked.

“A girl, dude’s got game,” Nep added.

“Yes, it was her. She put her number in my phone after school,” I confirmed, ignoring Nep.

“Girls don’t give numbers unless they are interested. She knows you aren’t into girls, right?” Nep asked.

“I asked the same thing at lunch,” Jup commented.

“Jealous?” Plut asked Jup.

“Or…concerned for my bro,” Jup replied.

“So, did you talk to her today?” Plut asked me.

“You guys know I can’t talk to people.”

“If you didn’t talk to her and she still gave you her number, she definitely wants in your pants. Take it from me, I know all about girls wanting in my pants,” Nep said.

“She doesn’t want in my pants,” I told them.

“Honestly, I have to agree with Nep here,” Plut said.

“Jup, you’re on my side, right?”

“Well, it’s a little suspect, but if you are sure, then I’ll believe you,” he said.

“Thank you, that’s why you’re my favorite.”

I spent the rest of the evening alternating between playing with the guys and texting Tracy between rounds. By ten-thirty, we had killed enough bandits to have a map for each of us, so I told everyone that I had to go. I then signed off and curled up in my bed to sleep, knowing I had school the next morning.