Page 36 of Didn't See That Coming

Dudebro10:Sure

Sourdawg:That’s cool. You never mentioned your gf. Or bf

Dudebro10:Oh, nonono. I don’t have one of those. I just take it easy, you know. Not rly a one-woman kind of guy

Oh my god what am I even saying?! Stop typing, fingers!

Sourdawg:Ah

Dudebro10:Sorry, that came out rly wrong and douchey. I don’t know why I said that. I’m not seeing anyone. No one’s rly into me at school, lol

Sourdawg:Hah, saaame

I almost type “I find that hard to believe, given you’re about as hot as the center of an active volcano,” but manage to stop myself in time.

Sourdawg:I think I’m starting to like someone, though

Dudebro10:Oh?

Oh my god?!My fingers hover over the keyboard. What do I say? Should I ask him who? No, that’d be weird, because I’m not supposed to know anyone at his school, so the “who”shouldn’t matter to me. He could say “Jane” or “Mary” and it’d be all the same to me, his anonymous online buddy. Right.Gah!

Dudebro10:Someone in your class?

I watch as the three dots appear next to his name. But just then, the screen changes and the chat disappears. We’re out of the waiting room and being logged on to an actual battleground.

“NO!” I shout at my computer. This is the first time in my life that I’ve been so enraged about being let into the game. By the time the battleground loads, the chat window is overloaded with new teammates saying hi and discussing strategy. I scroll up frantically, hoping against hope that Sourdawg had time to reply, but nope. The chat looks like this:

Dudebro10:Someone in your class?

[Warfront Heroes]:Guns at the ready! Loading Silmerrov Gulch.

[Warfront Heroes]:Heroes, assemble! 30seconds before the gates open. Time to meet your teammates and talk strategy!

Firestar202:Hey, guys. I’m gonna flank from the temple side

Darksak:Dude, you’re playing Doringa. You’re not strong enough to flank FFS

Sourdawg:You can flank, but you need a tank in front of you to take damage. Dudebro, can you go ahead of Fire?

Sourdawg:Dudebro

Firestar202:I don’t need to hide behind a tank

Darksak:Yes you do. DUDEBRO, wake the f*** up, man! Omg is our tank AFK?

Oops. I spent so long trying to locate my private chat with Sourdawg that I missed all the drama. I quickly type: “OK” and hit Enter just as the gates open and the battle begins. The round ends up being a tragedy. I fail to hold up my shield properly and get sniped in the head within the first five seconds. While I wait to respawn, the rest of my team is taken out. Curses flood the chat window, but I don’t even care. My heart isn’t in the game at all.

Sourdawg likes someone. And I can’t ask him about it. It would come off so weird. I’ll have to figure out who it is some other way.

Not that I care. Because I don’t. I force myself to take a deep breath. It’s none of my business who Liam likes. The only thing that matters is that Liam has promised that he’ll stand up for me. No matter who he has a crush on, things are going to look up from here on out, I just know it.

CHAPTER 10

I can’t believe this, but things don’t actually look up. They leap up. They soar up. They are positively hurled up into the glittering sky.

Okay, maybe that’s kind of dramatic. But is it really? Somehow, within just one day, it feels like things have completely changed for me, and it’s all thanks to Liam sticking to his word. Today, when we’re told to go into our groups and work on our projects, I get the now-familiar feeling of my stomach lurching and my chest tightening, making it harder to breathe. I hate these sessions so much. I hate Jonas’s obnoxious I’m-in-charge-of-this attitude and Peishan’s indifference and Liam’s silence. But as we put our books away, Liam meets my eye and gives me the tiniest nod. The tightness in my chest loosens, just a little.

“Great news, guys,” Jonas says. “That illustrator I was telling you about agreed to illustrate our game’s cover!”

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