Apparently, I hadn’t lost the team. At least until I asked Jayden how level three was going. Hopefully he’d let go of his forest-fairy sniper-battle idea.
Jayden smiled a smile I didn’t trust. “You’ll love this. Omar and I have a full script and battle plan.” He showed us some mock-up he’d drawn.
And no. There were no snipers. Instead, there were ... alien mechas? “Jayden! Why the hell would fairies be fighting giant robots from space?”
He shook his head. “They’re not fightingagainstthe mechas, they’re fightinginthem. You said it needed to be a puzzle adventure game.Well, getting in and controlling the mechas will be the puzzle. And mechas are always an adventure.”
Omar laughed.
I glared at them both. “Okay, but why would there be mechas from another world in the forest?”
“This will appeal to a wider demographic,” Jayden said. “I know what gamers like, and they’ll like mechas a hell of a lot more than fairies ice-skating with grass tied to their shoes. We’re trying to make a game here—not preschool playtime. Maybe you need to stop hanging out with children so much.”
Cass turned to Jayden. “You’re being an asshole for no reason.”
Nabil and Carson jumped in, defending Jayden’s idea, and Hana told them to shut up, that their idea was stupid, and he should listen to me because I was team captain.
Jayden turned to look at me, then very obviously turned away. “Not even sure you should be the captain anymore. We need teamwork to win. You seem to care more about your ‘boyfriend’ than the team.” The air quotes he made aroundboyfriendsent Omar, Carson, and Nabil laughing.
“Plus, she’ll probably go crying to the principal if she loses, like she did about Earl’s Whispers,” someone else said. I didn’t see who. Jayden snorted a laugh.
I was livid. It wasn’t even me who’d gone to the principal; it was their buddy Devin. “Why do you have it in for me, Jayden?” I tried to keep my voice calm. I needed the team to respect me. I was supposed to be a leader here.
Jayden’s eyes narrowed. “Pretty full of yourself to think that I care at all. Why don’t you step aside and let the actual gamers run this game-dev team?”
I stood there, blinking at my team for several seconds. Respect went both ways, and I was done busting my ass to get respected by people who I didn’t respect in return. Iwantedto lead a game-dev team. And Iwantedto make this forest-fairy game. But these guys on the team had already decided not to respect me as the captain, and nothing I did was going to change that. So we were never going to win the competition together. Hell, I doubted we’d even get a game made. It just wasn’t going to work.
I picked up my backpack and put it on my shoulders. “I’m out.”
“What do you mean, out?” Aimee asked.
I shrugged. “Just out. I don’t want to be in this team anymore. Go ahead, Jayden. Make your shooter game. You can be captain.”
“So, you’re not going to do game dev?” Jayden asked.
I paused. This team had been my idea. And this game was for Yasmin.
I looked at MissZhao, who wasn’t paying attention to the meeting. “MissZhao, do you have an issue with me leaving this team and forming a new one?”
MissZhao shook her head, frowning with confusion. “No. The school can have as many teams as they want to enter.”
I smiled. “Cass?”
Cass got up from their seat. “I’m with you.”
“You can’t take Cass!” Jayden said. “They’re the best coder in the school!”
“She’s nottakingme,” Cass said. “I’mleaving.”
We headed toward the door. Cass and I had the skills to do this on our own.
“Wait,” a voice said. Aimee. “I’m leaving, too.”
“What the fuck!” Jayden said, shocked.
I raised a brow at Aimee. She was literally dating Jayden, and she was abandoning his team?
“That is,” Aimee said, “if you’ll have me, I mean.”
