I cringed. Cass was probably right. True, Whispers was talking about me and Devin, but so was the rest of the school, too.
I thought for a second. “Do you think LostAxis is actually someone from Scarborough? Where did he get Daniel’s picture?”
Aimee shook her head. “I doubt it. The picture was probably online somewhere, and LostAxis used it because Daniel was doing that Dark Mage pose in it.”
“It’s a hockey pose, too,” Cass said. “That’s how players hold their sticks sometimes.”
“Then that makes sense. Daniel is obsessed with hockey. Hey, either of you want to do something scandalous so the gossip train will leave me alone and pay attention to someone else?” I joked.
Aimee gave me an annoyed look. Cass took a large bite of pie. “I might be willing. For pie, that is.”
I laughed and took another big bite.
When I got home that night, the first thing I did was openDragon Arenato see if LostAxis was there, but when I searched his name, it saidplayer not online. One of the things I loved about this game was it was a bit safer for racialized, female, and nonbinary gamers, mostly because there was no audio chat. Neckbeards couldn’t spew racial and gendered slurs at other players, and you couldn’t see the history or stats of a player unless they were online. And you could block players, which meant they couldn’t contact you or even see your character in the game at all. It was like you wouldn’t exist to them anymore.
I blocked LostAxis and logged out of the game.
8
The Gamer-Nerd of My Dreams
Icame very close to saying screw it all and skipping school the next day. But of course, I couldn’t. One, it was only the fourth day of school and I didn’t want to face the Annoyed Asian Mother face already. My parents were mostly cool—especially compared to some of my other friends’ parents. Mine were more the “disappointed look” kind of parents instead of the grounding / taking-phone-away kind. But also, two, if I didn’t show up to school after that picture of Devin’s and Hana’s butts was posted, people would talk.
I did go later than usual, though, skipping the bus ride with Cass and Aimee. And at lunch, I went to find MissZhao about that game-dev club. Partially to avoid seeing anyone, but also because I really did want to start that club. After all the research I’d done, I was genuinely excited about it.
MissZhao was a new teacher at the school. She taught computer studies and programming, and after knowing her for about three seconds, I wished she’d been my teacher when I took those classes instead of old “obsessed with Steve Jobs” Mr.Patel. MissZhao was chatty, enthusiastic, and excited to work with me.
I told her everything I’d learned about the competition, and together we looked at their website on one of the computers in the tech lab. “I love this!” she said, reading over the page.
The competition was for teams of five to ten students of any grade, who would create a mobile game, essentially a phone app, from the ground up, including all the scripts, graphics, and coding. There was also a business element—the teams had to put together a marketing and project-managing plan. The judging would happen in May. It could be a puzzle game likeCandy Crush, or a word game likeWords with Friends, or really any type of game. Teams would be judged on originality as well as sales potential, so it was advised to make something with a completely original game play instead of something similar to other games out there.
“I’ll absolutely be your staff adviser,” MissZhao said. “I wish something like this existed when I was a kid. Then again, if they had this in my high school, there is no way the guys would let a girl join. So, what’s the plan then? You have a team already?”
I frowned. “Not yet. My friend Cass for sure. I think they’re the best programmer in the school. I could ask my friend Aimee to do the art.”
“You’ll need more than just the three of you. Who else do you think you can get to join—and how? You’ll need more students who can code. And it looks like you’ll need to make a business plan to show them when you ask them. Do you have a concept yet? What kind of game are you thinking?”
These were all things that I should have thought about before now. I sighed. Mom and Mrs.Singh said I needed leadership skills for my scholarship application. I had to do better than this. “Maybe an adventure RPG?”
“Love it. Get a team together, and I’ll look up what my requirements as adviser are.” She glanced at her phone. “I’m free Mondaysafter school. How does that sound? You should be able to put together a team by then.”
I nodded, but I wasn’t optimistic about finding people so quickly. I could count on Cass and Aimee, but beyond that? Maybe my newfound respect, thanks to my hot gamer boyfriend, would help me.
I had to rush to the shelter to get there on time after talking to MissZhao. I considered skipping—calling Muniba and telling her that I didn’t think the role would work for me after all. But if I quit, Mrs.Singh would tell Mom, and neither would be thrilled. Also, I didn’t want to ditch Daniel on our baking day. It was only our second day working together, and Ididstill kind of like the guy, even if I hadn’t decided yet how to tell him about the Earl’s Whispers post with a picture of him. And I didn’t want to let down Andre and Muniba, and the whole shelter, either.
Andre was standing behind the front desk when I walked in, talking to a woman there. Just like yesterday, the shelter was busy.
He grinned. “Ah, Samaya! Glad to see you back. This is Faduma.”
I smiled at the woman behind the counter. She was Black, with big, serious eyes, and a gray hijab.
“I hear you met my daughter yesterday,” Faduma said.
“Oh, yes,” I said.This must be Yasmin’s mother.
“I’m sorry she told you she thought you were a vampire. My girl has a wild imagination.” She looked apologetic.
“Oh, it’s no problem. She’s adorable!”
